Overview
- Hertfordshire Constabulary says an independent department will review whether a blackmail offence should have been recorded and any subsequent investigative steps, with ownership to be agreed with neighbouring forces.
- Partner Cameron Tewson has instructed legal counsel and plans action after calling the Professional Standards Department report fundamentally flawed.
- A note left on Mr Gough’s Range Rover carried a phone number that police checks linked to suspects in other Grindr-related blackmail cases, and a suspect Mercedes was seen on nearby CCTV.
- Officers treated the males contacted in April 2024 as individuals requiring safeguarding and issued words of advice, with PSD highlighting missed opportunities to take accounts or download phones and noting the deceased’s phone could not be examined.
- The coroner recorded death by asphyxiation and the inquest remains open, as PSD also flagged unacceptable complaint-handling delays and said process changes are now in place.