Legal Experts Welcome Review’s Aim To Help Families Find Answers After Police Custody Deaths

The Home Secretary Theresa May has announced a review into police custody deaths after a number of high-profile incidents and allegations of misconduct involving vulnerable people held in police cells.

She explained that the experience of bereaved families of those who have died in custody will be “at the heart” of the review and noted that many of these families have faced “decades of indifference” following custody deaths.

Figures from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) have revealed that at least 196 people have died while in police custody in the last ten years, with a further 438 suspected of committing suicide within 48 hours of detention by police officers.

The review forms part of the Home Office’s attempt to improve confidence and trust between members of the public and police and follows on from number of reforms proposed to the way police complaints are handled and investigated.

Mrs May said: "Police custody is the place where dangerous and difficult criminals are rightly locked-up, where officers and staff regularly face violent, threatening and abusive behaviour, and where the police use some of their most sensitive and coercive powers.

"But it is also a place where all too often vulnerable people, often those with mental health problems, are taken because there is no other place to go.”

She added that bereaved families have encountered neither compassion nor redress from authorities and have faced evasiveness and obstruction when looking for answers.

If you or a loved one have been unfairly treated or unlawfully arrested by the police, our police complaints solicitors could help you claim compensation. See our Protecting Your Rights page for more information or inquire online.

Fiona McGhie, a civil liberties lawyer at Irwin Mitchell who has represented a number of people in claims against the police, said: