An Aberdeen mum who called the police after hearing Jamie Forbes screaming for help says she gave precise instructions for where his distressed cries were coming from.
Gail Thomson saw and heard Mr Forbes shouting from a window on the 12th floor flat at Elphinstone Court and was one of the first people to call 999 to report her concerns.
She says she was “very specific” and told the call handler “exactly” where the distressed shouts were coming from when she rang the emergency line on the morning of January 15 2024.
In spite of her crucial information, a series of mistakes and mix-ups meant Mr Forbes was never found and he died at around 3.30pm that day.
Speaking for the first time about the incident, Ms Thomson said: “It’s disgusting how it’s been handled. The police have absolutely failed Jamie and his family so badly.”
Cries of distress coming from high-rise
It was just after 10am that members of the public first started hearing Mr Forbes’ cries for help.
Ms Thomson said she was taking her children to school when her attention was drawn to the nearby tower block.
She said: “I could see someone with an orange t-shirt on a balcony and it looked someone at the window. I heard shouts.
“The screams sounded like cries for help and they were quite concerning.”
The distressing sight stopped the mum and her children in their tracks and she immediately called 999.
She recalls: “I told them where I was standing. I said there were two people – one on the balcony and somebody at a window from so many floors down from the top.
“I was very specific. I said it was so many floors down. I can’t remember the exact number now, but I did count how many floors down it was.
“I pinpointed exactly what I was seeing and hearing and where it was coming from.”
Pirc report reveals police failings
A new report into the Police Scotland’s handling of the case has revealed that a call handler wrongly recorded the location of the distressed shouts and, as a result, officers were sent to the wrong floors of the 18-storey building.
The Police Investigations Review Commissioner (Pirc) investigation also concluded that “cursory” investigations by officers at the scene resulted in “missed opportunities” to trace Mr Forbes before he plunged to the ground from the flat.
Ms Thomson said: “I waited for 15 minutes for the police to arrive but I then had to take my kids to school. I came back afterwards but I couldn’t see any police.”
The first contact she had with officers was after Mr Forbes’ body had been found and she was asked to retrace her steps and explain exactly what she had seen and heard that morning.
When The Press and Journal told Ms Thomson of the mix-ups and mistakes revealed in the Pirc report she said it was particularly upsetting because she had actually crossed paths with Mr Forbes once before.
“I didn’t know Jamie very well but when I first moved here he was really nice,” she said.
“I asked him where the school was and he walked me up to it and showed me where the shops were, even though it was going out of his way. He was really, really kind.
“If the police had listened properly Jamie could still be alive.”
Police Scotland have not yet received the Pirc report so declined to comment.
A spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “The Procurator Fiscal has received a report on the death of a 37-year-old man in Aberdeen on 15 January 2024.
“The investigation into the death is ongoing and significant developments will be shared with the family as the investigation continues.”