Police officers 'stopped at McDonald's' before going 999 call for suicidal woman

Two police officers who stopped at McDonald's for a cup of tea - and parked up for almost half an hour - before going to an emergency call for a suicidal woman are to face a gross misconduct hearing.

Fahima Begum was found hanged at her east London home, after a friend called 999 to say she had sent him a suicidal text and was not answering her door.

The original call to the ambulance service was referred to police and officers discovered the 22-year-old dead at the address in Poplar in the early hours of April 16 2015.

The police watchdog has said the delay between police accepting the call and attending Ms Begum's home was significant and referred the matter for a two-day hearing later this month.

The call was given the second-highest grading, meaning officers must get to the scene within 60 minutes, but regulations state they should attend as soon as possible.

An investigation has shown the officers, PC Gavin Bateman and PC Tony Stephenson, stopped to buy cups of tea before driving to a roundabout where they waited for 24 minutes and contacted the concerned friend.

An inquest on November 4 2015 found Ms Begum was dead before the 999 call was made. The IPCC said they found no cases to answer in relation to the call handlers.