Police have charged a man with a series of serious offences following incidents in the north of the island.

Taylor Murphy has been charged with attempted murder, two counts of robbery, burglary and other acquisitive crimes after consultation with the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Isle of Man Constabulary said.

The force said it was now able to address public concerns about its communications during the build-up to the incidents.

An initial media release issued on Sunday, October 5, described Murphy as a ‘high-risk missing person’. The Constabulary said it had been widely but incorrectly reported that he was described in police releases as ‘vulnerable’.

A later statement asked residents in the Maughold area to ensure their outbuildings were ‘secure and not disturbed’, reflecting concerns that unreported burglaries might have occurred. Police did not, it said, ask members of the public to search for Murphy.

Further updates were issued on Monday, October 6, after reported sightings led officers to shift search activity to the Douglas area, though these later proved inaccurate.

Police said speculation on social media had led to several false reports and repeated their request for the public to avoid speculation while the criminal process continues.

Inspector Barker told residents at a public information meeting held about the incidents at Dhoon Church Hall on Tuesday: ‘We received a report of a vulnerable person who had spoken to their family, which prompted the family to call the police with huge concerns about that person.’

She added: ‘Obviously, we don’t just take the information that is presented to us. We look wider. We have partner agencies that we can glean information from. We can look at records that we may have held from previous incidents, we can do a whole array of research, which then basically fuels how we deal with the situation. So I think it’s important to say in this occasion that the information that came in in the initial stages was very much about a vulnerable person with intentions to harm themselves that was categorized as what we call a high-risk missing person inquiry.’

The Constabulary has since clarified that while the individual was treated as vulnerable within operational risk assessments, the term ‘vulnerable’ was not used in public communications.

At this time, police said their thoughts remain with the Ramsey man who continues to receive hospital care in the UK.