Deaths in police custody 2004-06

Report: 13
Date: 12 October 2006
By: A/AC John Yates on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

At a meeting of the Full Authority on 27 July 2006, a member of the public raised the following question: “What steps does the MPA take to ensure that investigations following a death in custody are rigorous, speedy and effective? In particular, what steps have been taken in respect of Enzo Stompanato who died in Holborn Custody Suite on 15 December 2002? Does the MPA track the progress of all investigations and decisions following death in police custody, not only related to police cells, in the MPA area? ”

In its response, the MPA acknowledged that at present the MPA’s Professional Standards and Complaints Committee (PSCC) does not request information for the purpose of detailed tracking of investigations of death in custody cases. The MPA therefore publicly confirmed that consideration would be given to whether more information should routinely be reported to the MPA on death in contact matters.

To address the above the MPA requested a report for presentation at the next PSCC meeting on 12 October. This report together with the appendices answers the four questions raised by the MPA.

A. Recommendations

That members note the information contained within the report.

B. Supporting information

1.

• Exempt Appendix 1 - Details of the 32 most recent deaths
• Exempt Appendix 2 - Detailed chronology for death of Enzo Stompanato enquiry
• Exempt Appendix 3 - Excel spreadsheet of deaths in custody 1994-2006 data

2. Details of the number of cases in 2004/5 & 2005/6 & 2006/7 (to 25 September):

2. The above table sets out the raw figures but it is worthy of note that the 2005/6 total included 2 cases of death by jumping, whether suicide or not, and one case of death from a police pursuit on foot that was not RTA related.

3. The reported death on Thursday 29 September 2006 in South East London has yet to be included as the cause of death, at the time of compilation of this report is as yet unknown. The male subject was however being restrained at the time. For each case in the total, PSCC members require the following:

• A description of the incident and the victim (gender, age, ethnicity)
• Date of death, inquest & verdict
• Status of investigation i.e. whether IPCC independent
• Duration of and date of completion of the investigation
• Whether criminal or misconduct proceedings followed or are pending
• What action has been taken by way of prevention and organisational learning

4. In order to comply with the above requests a short template was produced onto which data for each of the 32 deaths was entered. This data has been kept brief to prevent the report from being overlong. This set of data is to be found at Appendix 1 and comprises 11 pages.

5. It should be noted that the MPS already sends to the MPA extensive details concerning the initial stages of the investigation but that the subsequent updating is not part of the standard processes.

A general description of how the Directorate of Professional Standards oversees and monitors action following death in custody cases

6. All deaths following police contact are undertaken by the DPS Specialist Investigation (SI) Unit. All are referred to the IPCC and the DPS then follows the directed mode of investigation. The IPCC invariably retain control and direction of these investigations.

7. DPS supervise these investigations by a weekly briefing to the DPS Commander on progress and a bi-weekly meeting between the Investigating Officer and the SI Detective Superintendent.

8. Organisational learning from such deaths is progressed by the DPS Prevention and organisational learning Command (POL) which, in its creation in April 2006 absorbed the Prevention and reduction team that existed within DPS. All recommendations are maintained on a Holmes database and fed into an ongoing series of lectures and seminars on custody and contact issues. This will be a key element of the POL Professional Standards Support Programme, which is due to commence in January 2007.

Details of any death in custody cases that occurred before 1 April 2004 where the Inquest has not yet taken place or investigation completed

9. There is only one case where the death occurred before 1 April 2004 that still awaits an inquest. The inquest into the death of Enzo Stompanato is due to commence on 9 October 2006. Mr Stompanato was arrested for Drunk and Disorderly and detained at Holborn Police Station where he died in police custody. A detailed chronology has been prepared and is attached at appendix 2 although with both the Inquest and Misconduct yet to be determined this must remain exempt.

10. The delay has been caused by the inordinate amount of time

• the medical reports took to be completed – 7 months in one case;
• the CPS took to make a decision - May 2004 to August 2005 a period of 15 months;
• the Coroner took in then listing the inquest. In November 2005 he listed it for October 2006.

11. During this time the CPS determined in August 2005 that two officers, PS Walters and PC Jefferson should face criminal charges. The sergeant for perverting the course of justice and forgery and the constable for gross negligence resulting in manslaughter, perverting the course of justice and forgery. The officers were summonsed and suspended from duty on 18 August.

12. On 18 November, 3 months later, the CPS informed the MPS that there was no realistic prospect of conviction and that all charges were withdrawn. The officers were reinstated to operational duty but restricted to stay outside the evidential chain. PC Jefferson is currently certificated sick.

C. Race and equality impact

This paper does not introduce any new processes and has been prepared on a factual update basis as requested by the Members. Analysis is therefore limited.

D. Financial implications

No additional financial implications. Investigation is already funded through the DPS budget. Delay in decision making by external organisations does impact on suspension of officers (and therefore organisational opportunity costs) and duration of investigation but these are outside DPS sphere of control.

E. Background papers

None.

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Andrew Campbell, Temporary Detective Chief Superintendent, DPS Prevention and Organisational Learning, MPS.

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback