Police Scotland told of Andrew Bow week before body was found

Police Scotland was contacted about the well-being of a man a week before he was found dead in his flat, it has emerged.

Andrew Bow lived at East Crosscauseway in Edinburgh. Picture: Neil Hanna

A neighbour was worried about Andrew Bow, 36, after they saw broken windows at his flat. He rang Edinburgh City Council which is understood to have rung police with the information.

However it was not until after a call from a second worried neighbour several days later that officers visited Mr Bow’s flat in East Crosscauseway where they found him dead.

Mr Bow’s body was found by police seven days after the neighbour first reported his concerns.

A police watchdog investigating the force’s initial response to the charity worker’s death yesterday said it would include the new information from the neighbour and the council in its inquiry.

The first caller, who asked not to be named, told The Scotsman: “I noticed the windows on one of the first-floor flats had been broken. I let the council know as I thought it was vandalism.”

After reporting his concerns to the city council via e-mail, the neighbour received a call later that day informing him the matter would be reported to the police.

He said: “At the time I didn’t know it was Andrew’s flat.”

The calls expressing concerns over Mr Bow were made to the same Bilston Glen police service centre in Midlothian, which handled reports last July about a couple’s car which had crashed off the M9.

Police took three days to respond after failing to log the call properly. John Yuill, 28, died at the scene, while mother-of-two Lamara Bell, 25, later died in hospital. Prosecutors have instructed the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (Pirc) to look into police handling of Mr Bow’s death.

Politicians said the public deserved “transparency” on what went wrong with this case.

A spokesman for the city council, said: “We will pass on any relevant information to Pirc to assist in their ongoing investigation.”

Police said they could not comment on the incident while Pirc is investigating.