Father of Bangor woman missing for three years says police treatment 'emotionally scarred us'

• Report by ITV Wales journalist Nest Jenkins.

Catrin Maguire was 22 years old when she went missing from Holyhead on 15 November 2021.

North Wales Police told S4C's current affairs programme Y Byd ar Bedwar it has apologised to the family of Catrin Maguire, and that it is ready to apologise again after failings came to light regarding the police’s investigation into her disappearance. 

Gerry Maguire, Catrin’s father, has said trying to get information from police about his daughter's disappearance was like “trying to get blood out of a stone, they were very difficult to deal with".

On Monday, 15 November, 2021, Catrin travelled from her home in Bangor to Holyhead by train.

Catrin was seen on a number of CCTV cameras in Holyhead town centre, before being seen for the final time in South Stack that afternoon.

She was wearing a black coat and carrying a light-coloured bag on the day she disappeared. Catrin was reported missing the following day on 16 November, after she missed a routine phone call with her family.

Next month will mark three years since Catrin’s disappearance, and her father Gerry is still fighting for answers. 

"The family is still in groundhog day," he said.

"We haven’t moved on because she’s basically just disappeared without a trace."

There was a multi-agency effort to try and find Catrin, including search and rescue teams, police coastguards and volunteers. However Gerry wasn’t happy with the efforts of police in the days which followed.

"We had no point of contact, what they wanted us to do was just phone 101 for updates," he said.

The family spoke to around 14 different police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) during the investigation. 

"I kept having to explain the same thing to different officers every time, because there was no communication between officers," he said.

On the fourth day of Catrin’s disappearance, Gerry said he received a phone call from an officer he had never met before to explain the police’s hypothesis was that Catrin was deceased and had died by suicide.

On another occasion, he said an officer came to the house and described to the family what happens to a body which has drowned, causing unnecessary upset to the family. 

Gerry said incidents like these have added to the pain of the family. 

"That emotionally scarred us for life, hearing that," he said.

"There was no need for it… I remember it upsetting me and making my wife cry."

North Wales Police also failed to respond properly to a report of a possible sighting of Catrin in Holyhead.

A witness who reported the sighting was incorrectly told there were no missing females in the area and then told that the missing female she was referring to was in Ireland.

After the call, the witness informed Catrin's father, Gerry.

Police later confirmed the call handler provided incorrect information and issued an apology to the family.

In February 2022, Gerry requested the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigate North Wales Police’s handling of his daughter's case and the way they treated the family, but the complaint was referred back to North Wales Police to be investigated internally. 

Last summer, the police force published the report. There were seven allegations put forward by the family: in six of those allegations, the service provided by North Wales Police was deemed not acceptable. Three complaints involved officers showing an unprofessional attitude and disrespect towards the family.

Three years before Catrin disappeared, a man named Tony Haigh went missing from Holyhead.

He was 49 years old at the time and vanished on 23 February, 2018.

His family said they have experienced similar failures to Catrin’s case. Tony's son, Zack Haigh, said he is disappointed. 

"It’s quite shocking because it’s a few years later and very similar findings," he said. "I just don’t understand how that can happen after [all the] complaints and reports… how can that happen?"

Following a review of their case by North Wales Police, the force concluded that out of five allegations put forward by the Haigh family, there were two allegations where the service provided by North Wales Police was deemed not acceptable. This included a failure to keep the family updated and no consistent reporting officer. 

Zack said: "There was no contact with the family, they weren’t keeping us up to date… [they were] taking ages to respond…

"They’ve let me down, they’ve let my family down, and they’ve let my father down.

"They’re not doing their job properly."

Gareth Evans, assistant chief constable for North Wales Police, told Y Byd ar Bedwar that he recognises how difficult it is for families when people go missing. 

He said: "When somebody goes missing it’s like being in a never-ending nightmare isn’t it, and we recognise that and the importance for us is that we communicate well with the families.

"Within the past year specifically we’ve really improved our policy around this, so we do have a single point of contact for families and they know who’s going to keep them updated about their cases. [On] day one it would be clear who's going to contact them and keep them updated in relation to the investigation.

"Specifically in Catrin’s case we have apologised to the family and I’ll repeat that apology here, we are sorry for the service that they received.

"We are looking to re-launch the appeal [into Catrin’s case] to try to get more information out of the community.

"I am happy to meet with Tony Haigh’s family… and discuss their concerns with them."

You can watch Y Byd ar Bedwar on Monday, 21 October, at 8pm on S4C, S4C Clic and BBC iPlayer.

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