ALMOST four years ago the parents of missing teenager Sajjad Mahmood complained that their fears had not been treated seriously enough by police.

The boy's father Arshad Mahmood said: "We went to the police every day but they kept telling us to go away.

"They said he had probably run away from home and there was nothing to worry about.

"Everyone in the town was talking about how Sajjad had been killed but police would not listen to us."

Sajjad's mother was convinced his body had been dumped in a lodge next to Accrington's Asda store and told store staff as much.

But it was not until two weeks after his disappearance that police divers finally searched the lodge - and found Sajjad's body.

Nearly three years ago one man was jailed for eight years after he admitted manslaughter and two others received six year sentences for their part in the attack that killed the young man.

In May 1999 Lancashire Police announced an investigation into "certain apparent irregularities" in the handling of Sajjad's disappearance by their officers following a complaint by the family.

Almost three years on we hear today that the investigation has finished and formal internal disciplinary proceedings have been "initiated" against 12 police officers concerning the way what was then a murder investigation was handled. A further six are to receive "informal words of advice."

It is believed that the two attackers who received six years have, with remission, now completed their sentences and are free again.

Certainly the investigation into the complaints by Sajjad's parents had to be detailed and thorough.

But 32 months is a ridiculous length of time that does nothing to reassure the Mahmood family about the speed with which police act to investigate important matters.