A friend of Lacey Lake has voiced questions over the search for her, insisting that police carried out a search of a caravan the day before her body was found there the following afternoon.
The 24-year-old’s body was found in a caravan near to Linton Close in Tamerton Foliot on Tuesday, January 7 – a day after she was reported missing by a friend.
Her friend made the report, following growing concerns for Lacey’s welfare over the weekend, telling police it was out of character for her to remain out of touch.
It is understood Devon and Cornwall Police deemed Lacey’s missing person report as a ‘medium risk’ and so did not issue a public appeal.
In a statement the force confirmed on the evening of January 7 that officers involved in the search had located the body of a female. The statement continued: “Officers were called around 1.20pm following concerns for the welfare of the woman in Linton Close, Tamerton Foliot. Paramedics attended but the woman was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
The statement went on the say that the death was being treated as unexplained “although not currently believed suspicious”. The police statement added: “The family of 24-year-old Lacey Lake who was reported missing on Monday 6 January have been informed. Formal identification has yet to be carried out.”
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) told PlymouthLive that they were called at 1.17pm on Tuesday and sent an operations officer to the scene.
Lacey Lake
(Image: Morgan Hennessy Kelly on Facebook)
The friend – who has asked to remain anonymous over concerns of a backlash – told PlymouthLive: “Lacey had been in my life for the last six years, since I was 17.
“She was originally from Doncaster and was put into the care system when she was young. Her nan took her in for a while but when she turned 18 she moved to Plymouth and I met her at work – and we’ve been friends ever since. She’s lived with friends for a few years before she moved in with me.”
The friend emphasised that sometimes Lacey would live at the friend’s house or live at a caravan nearby, which she had made her own, with a bed, sofa and her belongings.
The friend last saw Lacey on Friday and believed she would return home on Saturday evening – but a series of messages and Snapchat locations raised her concerns and fears.
PlymouthLive has made attempts to verify the friend’s account with Devon and Cornwall Police but questions we put the force remain unanswered
On Monday morning, the friend said she realised Lacey was missing and contacted police.
Explaining the contact she had over the weekend, the friend said she received a message that a housemate was set to pick her up from an address in Stonehouse and drop her off back at Tamerton Foliot at 9pm on Saturday January 4.
The friend said: “She texted me saying “getting ready”. I asked what time she’d be back and she wrote it’d be 9pm. But she didn’t come home.
“I didn’t hear from her until 6pm on Sunday when she wrote to me asking “can you pick me up” but I couldn’t. So she wrote saying she would get a taxi. She still didn’t come home. Her Snapchat location said she was outside the house, but she wasn’t.
“At 7.57pm on Sunday I got a text from Lacey which didn’t make sense, it didn’t even sound like her. I’ve told police, but they are saying it’s not suspicious but I think something definitely happened to her.
“She’d written ‘I’ve been bsck hour. with water and food”. She would not write like that, she’d not write “back” like that and she’d use a full sentence. That’s just not her at all.”
The friend said she believed Lacey had just gone to bed and on Monday morning, having still not seen her, she again looked for her, first checking her own home, then the caravan, but Lacey was not at either place.
She said she called other friends who told her that Lacey had left the house on Friday evening, but had said she was going to get picked up or get a taxi home again.
However, the friend said she became increasingly concerned, having had texts from Lacey on Saturday night saying she was going to be dropped off by a housemate, and then further texts on Sunday saying she was back home using language she did not recognise as Lacey’s.
On Monday night the friend said she was so worried she again checked the caravan at around 8.30pm and took Lacey’s kitten out to look after it in her home. At 9.52pm she called police and they asked her to check with Derriford Hospital.
She made that call at 10.04pm and there was no reports of Lacey being there. At 10.07pm she again called police to make a missing person report and says at 11.56pm a female police officer turned up and also carried out a search of the caravan.
The friend said: “She was not there.”
The police car in Linton Close [file picture]
(Image: Penny Cross)
On Tuesday morning, after seeing the lights off in the caravan, the friend drove to a property in Stonehouse, where people said Lacey was over the weekend.
“He opened the door and there was blood on his face, his lip look swollen and cut, he looked bruised and scratched on his nose,” she claimed. “I asked him where Lacey was and he said he put her in a taxi on Sunday evening.
“He handed me her clothes saying he’d washed them, saying she’d been sick on them. It was a brand new tracksuit and she loved that outfit. Then he handed me her caravan keys.”
She then called the police again that day and says a second officer came to Linton Close conduct a search. She told PlymouthLive: “I was standing with him at the door of the caravan.
“He opened the door and crouched down and turned to me and said ‘can you call an ambulance?’. I said ‘what?’. I had to call for the ambulance.
“Police stayed there the whole day – detectives, uniformed officers, a drone overhead. Somehow, either Lacey came back to the caravan between Monday night and Tuesday afternoon or the only other explanation is the female police officer missed her during her search on the Monday and that’s not likely because it’s a small caravan.
“Normally, the caravan is absolutely pristine inside. It was properly kitted out. She’d got a brand new bed, she had a sofa. We made it homely in there. But when the police looked on the Monday it didn’t look clean – it looked like it’d been ransacked. Yet Lacey had put so much effort into cleaning it, making it her home.”
The friend told PlymouthLive: “I know her better than anyone. This all seems very wrong.”
On Thursday PlymouthLive presented Devon and Cornwall Police with a series of questions based on the statement by Lacey’s friend.
In a statement offered today, the force said: “As the death is currently being treated as non-suspicious we will not be releasing anything further at this time. A file is being prepared for HM Coroner.
“Devon & Cornwall Police has made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct [IOPC] due to prior police contact with the deceased woman. We await the outcome of the referral.”
An IOPC spokesperson told PlymouthLive: “We can confirm we received a referral on 8 January from Devon and Cornwall Police which is being assessed to decide whether any investigation by the IOPC is needed.”
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