Georgina Gharsallah: Investigators Consider Racial Bias As New Development Surfaces

It's being claimed the race and class of a woman from Worthing, missing since March 2018, may have influenced Sussex Police's investigation into her disappearance.

An independent team of investigators supporting the mother of Georgina Gharsallah, who vanished in March 2018 at the age of 30, claim that the force admitted to 27 key failings during the investigation.

Sussex Police refute any suggestion of racial bias in this case and claim they did not find 27 significant failings.

It comes as a debit payment taken from Georgina's bank account in July was allegedly not picked up by police, until they were informed by the family two weeks ago.

For more than two years the family have been campaigning for justice, carrying out their own searches and putting up posters around the town.

The relationship between the family and the police has deteriorated, according to a press conference led by investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre this morning (Wednesday 16).

It's believed that public pressure led Sussex Police to carry out an internal review of the investigation, which the Gharsallah family were invited to last Tuesday (September 8).

According to a statement released by The Friends and Family of Georgina Gharsallah, the force admitted to a multitude of failings.

They include a failure to review key CCTV footage until a year after her disappearance, the loss of nine segments of CCTV (out of a total of thirteen), and not placing Georgina on the Interpol watch list for over 18 months after her disappearance.

The full list included in the statement:

1. "Key CCTV footage related to the disappearance of Georgina was not reviewed until a year after her disappearance.
2. No single officer has been singled out for blame or accepted responsibility for this.
3. No explanation has been given for this failing.
4. Nine potentially significant segments of CCTV were also lost by the Force without explanation.
5. No single officer has accepted responsibility for these failings.
6. The Force admitted that its early search for CCTV in any event was too limited in area and late.
7. The Force said that the Family had indicated this to them six months after the disappearance of Georgina.
8. The Force admitted 27  key failings in the investigation were uncovered in the review.
9. The Force admitted that the review itself was 18 months overdue.
10. The Force admitted that nobody in the investigating team were sure of their respective roles.
11. The Force admitted that officers did not take responsibility for key tasks.
12. The Force said that there were issues with oversight and resources.
13. The Force said that no reason or explanation was available for the failure to place Georgina on the Interpol watch list for over 18 months after her disappearance.
14. The Force would not reveal the other failing as the investigation remains open
15. No apology was offered by Sussex Police.
16. The Force has referred this review and their failings to their own professional standards department.
17. The Force said that The National Crime Squad may pursue additional enquiries into the remaining CCTV opportunities.
18. The Force admitted that the catalogue of failings has seriously compromised the investigation.
19. The reviewing officer said that the investigation was currently at a dead end with no live leads or inquiries – by the end of his review (one additional lead has emerged since the end of his work).
20. At the request of the family, a meeting  has been arranged to meet the Chief Constable, Jo Shiner at Police Headquarters on October 2nd to discuss the investigation."

According to Andrea, the latest development in the case is that a bank account belonging to Georgina had a debit payment taken from it in July, in connection with a games console.

She said the force is currently waiting for Sony USA to come back with more information.

One of the key concerns expressed during the press conference by The Friends and Family of Georgina Gharsallah group and the investigators was the issue of race and class.

Andrea Gharsallah said:

"I stated [to police] that I felt Georgina's case wasn't taken as seriously as some others.

"[I asked] was it because of race, her background, her lifestyle and her history?

"I said that I felt that they hadn't put everything into this case, as they would another missing female.

"We felt it was victim blaming really because of [her background]."

Andrea later added that the family are planning to take legal action against the police force.

Donal MacIntyre said in the press conference on Wednesday that he also thought race and class had influenced the investigatoin.

Donal commented:

"When firemen go missing, as in the tragic case right before Christmas, the resources Sussex threw at that were monstrous.

"I remember Andrea at the time saying 'Hmm I didn't see those resources when Georgina went missing.'

"Blue eyed blonde, I mean the force and the government and the Prime Minister's office are still allocating eleven, twelve, thirteen milion pounds for a missing child, blue eyed and blonde in a foreign jurisdiction; and even a million pounds to the Ben Needham case, again in a foreign jurisdiction.

"There is a really important issue here about the allocation of resources."

In response to some of the claims made in the meeting, a spokesperson from Sussex Police said:

"The review found that, whilst initial enquiries were proportionate and the investigation was escalated appropriately with comprehensive enquiries taking place, there were significant missed opportunities in one aspect, the investigation strand focusing on CCTV, with the parameters not being reviewed in the light of new information, some CCTV footage not being secured and some of the CCTV that was collected not being viewed in a timely manner.

"This means that some CCTV was not potentially secured or viewed in sufficient time and was then lost to the investigation.

"It is impossible to say, with any certainty, whether or not this would have made a tangible difference to the progress of the investigation as the CCTV can no longer be viewed and we have been open and honest with Georgina’s family on this issue.

"We refute any suggestion of racial bias in this case.

"We acknowledge that this is a distressing time for Georgina’s family and remain absolutely committed to investigating Georgina’s disappearance and to finding the answers her family desperately need.

"The Chief Constable will personally meet with the family early next month."

Andrea confirmed that at the request of the family, a meeting was arranged to meet Chief Constable Jo Shiner on October 2nd.

Also part of the team supporting Andrea is former DCI Clive Driscoll, an acclaimed detective who solved the Stephen Lawrence murder which was unsolved for nearly 20 years.

Clive claims that the family have been 'wronged' and that Georgina didn't get the investigation she deserved.

He thinks that the investigation needs to be completely re-commissioned from start to finish, and an investigatoin should be carried out by the IOPC (Independent Office For Police Conduct).

Clive added:

"Georgina, her mother, her family and her two boys and all who helped search for her, often to the derision of the Sussex Force, deserve a fulsome apology from the Sussex Police.

"I have spent time with Andrea and her supporters, and she has handled this crusade to find her daughter with great dignity and determination. 

"What really concerns me is that if she had blue eyes and was middle class and had a different name – would the investigation have been equally poor?

"It goes without saying that I will help the family in any way I can.”

Donal MacIntyre and producer Steve Langridge are working together on a podcast and documentary called 'Where's Georgina?'

The pair claim to have put together a team of experts to 'fill in the gaps in the police investigation', including set ups in their own crime incident room and producing their own reconstruction of Georgina's last known movements.

Donal added:

"This is one investigation which we've tried to put under a microscope.

"What does this say about all the other missing people's investigations in Sussex where other people lay, as Andrea did, their confidence and trust in the force to do a professional job?"
 

The Family and Justice committee call upon: 

1. "Sussex Constabulary to release to the family the full list of failings uncovered by the Internal Review.
2. Sussex Constabulary to apologise to the family, the community and the thousands of people who have helped search for Georgina and assist the investigation.
3. Sussex Constabulary to refer these admitted chronic failings to the IOPC for immediate investigation.
4. Sussex Constabulary to remove all officers who remain from the original team from the current investigative unit.
5. Request that the Inspectorate of Constabulary investigate Sussex police’s handling of Missing Persons’ cases.
6. National Crime Agency to be consulted and to take over the Investigation in full.
7. The Chief Constable to fully investigate the failings and to review the working practices of the investigative team responsible for them
8. A full inquiry and written response by the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner regarding these shocking failures
9. An Investigation by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary into how the Force handles all its missing person cases.
10. The family call upon the commission for Racial Equality to investigate this case and the role that colour, ethnicity and class plays in the allocation of resources in missing persons’ cases"

Sussex Police said:

"We continue to appeal for people to come forward with any information that may assist in ascertaining what happened to Georgina and any viable lines of enquiry will be investigated.

"Anyone with any information should either report this online or call 101 quoting Operation Pavo.

"Crimestoppers charity is offering a reward of up to £10,000 for information the charity exclusively receives.

"You can contact them via their website (https://crimestoppers-uk.org/) or call 0800 555 111."