Caroline Flack's heartbroken mother, Christine Flack, is convinced that errors made by the police were directly responsible for her daughter's tragic death. The beloved Love Island host took her own life at the age of 40 in February 2020, just prior to a highly publicized trial where she faced charges of assaulting her boyfriend, Lewis Burton. A poignant note found in her flat expressed a desperate plea: "Please let this court case be dropped, and myself and Lewis find harmony."

In a new Disney+ documentary, Christine spearheads an investigation that meticulously points out what she asserts were critical mistakes and questionable decisions by both the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Metropolitan Police. She argues these actions "made no sense," and when coupled with relentless negative media coverage and online trolling, left Caroline feeling utterly trapped with "no way out." Christine firmly states, "They will not admit that they were wrong to push for Caroline to be prosecuted. Because of a police error, my daughter’s died."

Speaking to the Mirror, Christine expressed her profound confusion as to why a detective inspector chose to overrule the CPS's initial suggestion to merely caution Caroline on the night of the incident in December 2019 at her London home. "It would have changed everything," Christine reflects. "Because they pursued the prosecution, she had to stand down from her jobs. She had to leave her house. It just changed her world." The documentary features senior legal figures who concur that a caution should have been the appropriate course of action for the TV star.

Nazir Afzal, a former CPS chief crown prosecutor, meticulously reviewed police documents compiled by Christine. He tells her, "Having looked at all your evidence I can’t understand why they rushed the judgement. This was a case where there is no previous history, no coercive behaviour. Mr Burton never wanted this case and was adamant. This was a one off occasion where she lost her temper and did what she did, which she accepts. For all of those reasons, the very worst thing that should have happened was a caution." Afzal emphasized, "I have prosecuted thousands of these cases, none of this makes sense." He believes that prosecutors should have stopped the case due to insufficient evidence and suggests that the continuation might have been driven by fear of media backlash, asserting, "My take on it is Caroline would still be with us if certain decisions weren’t taken in that month or two."

Jess McDonald, an ex-Met detective constable with experience in domestic violence safeguarding units, also highlights "so much shouts out to me as mishandling." She points to an email challenging the caution decision where the detective inspector insisted there was no clear admission of guilt, despite Caroline having admitted guilt 12 times in a statement, a fact her lawyer Paul Morris confirmed. Morris suggested the case was prosecuted because it was "more difficult to stop the snowball rolling than let it continue," attributing the stance to "saving face."

Caroline's mental health significantly deteriorated after she was charged in late December. Her agent, Louisa Booth, confirmed they sent a psychiatric report to the CPS stating Caroline was "not fit mentally to go through this," but it was ignored. Caroline herself expressed profound despair, texting best friend Mollie Grosberg, "I won’t get a fair trial. I don’t think I can cope with the shame," after a story with horrific, blood-covered photos from the scene (which Christine clarifies was Caroline's blood) appeared. Upon hearing the case would proceed on February 13, she texted, "My life is over. My head is throbbing."

The night before her death, Caroline experienced a "meltdown" and trashed her flat, leading friends to call an ambulance. However, she assured them they could leave the next morning, as her sister Jody was visiting. Tragically, Jody arrived to a locked door and later discovered Caroline had taken her own life. While the Met Police apologized for not keeping a record of why she was charged with assault, an Independent Office for Police Conduct review found no misconduct. The Met stated there was "organisational learning for us on points of process, no misconduct has been identified." The CPS maintains that "All decisions were made on the basis of the medical opinion available. A person’s celebrity status never influences whether a case is taken forward. We are satisfied the prosecution was correctly brought."