POLICE officers have been cleared of misconduct over their handling of an investigation into the death of a teenager in York’s River Foss last year.

However, North Yorkshire Police says lessons have been identified following a complaint by the family of Sonny Ferry, 19, of Rutland, who died at the end of a night out in April 2019.

Sonny’s parents Kate and Stephen claimed officers’ inquiries were compromised by being effectively closed the day after his death.

They said earlier this year that police were aware Sonny’s wallet was missing when his body was found but it was only in June 2019 that they were advised by police to check his debit card usage and discovered it had been used fraudulently at the time of his death - by when it was too late for CCTV evidence to be collected.

The family also said they were not initially allocated a Family Liaison Officer (FLO), despite being assured immediately after his death this would happen. As a result, they initiated almost all contact with police to try to make sense of what had happened and an officer only offered to act as their FLO at the end of May after their MP intervened.

But by this time they had built up a picture of what had happened on that night from what police had told them previously, and so when the FLO gave them a different version of events, it made it very difficult for them to trust what was being said.

The couple also said they were only informed three and a half months after Sonny died that two people had been seen on Blue Bridge, close to where he drowned, only moments after he went in the water.

North Yorkshire Chief Constable Lisa Winward wrote to the couple’s MP to say a FLO wasn’t appointed at the time Sonny died because police believed there was no suggestion of a crime or third party involvement. She apologised that this had not been communicated to them at the time.

North Yorkshire Police said yesterday that following Sonny’s death, the force received a complaint from his family into the handling of the investigation.

“This has now been resolved with the family by way of the Local Resolution process which found that, based on the information available, the issues raised in the complaint did not amount to misconduct on the part of any North Yorkshire Police officer or member of staff," said a spokeswoman.

“It did, however, identify some lessons which have been disseminated to the wider organisation to ensure that all officers and staff are aware of their responsibilities when dealing with such matters.

“We understand that this has been a very difficult time for Sonny’s family and offer our sincere condolences and apologies for the distress this matter has caused them, after the tragic death of their son. The case has been handed over to the Coroner and we hope that the inquest will provide Sonny’s family with answers regarding his death and bring them some closure.”

The spokeswoman said that a man, 45, of no fixed address, who was arrested last summer in connection with Sonny’s missing wallet, had been released without charge, and the investigation into it had closed.

Sonny’s parents declined to comment at this stage.