12 March 2021

Police apologise over death of man ‘partly caused by restraint and neglect’

12 March 2021

A police chief has apologised for “significant failings” after an inquest jury found the death of a mixed-race man was partly caused by the way officers restrained him.

More than seven years after his death, an inquest jury on Friday found the force and technique used by Bedfordshire Police officers in restraining Leon Briggs face down on the pavement before taking him into custody “more than minimally contributed to his death”.

The father-of-two had taken drugs and was suffering a mental health crisis before police detained him under the Mental Health Act using handcuffs and leg restraints on November 4, 2013.

Mr Briggs, 39, died around two hours later at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital of “amphetamine intoxication in association with prone restraint and prolonged struggling”, with a secondary cause of heart disease, senior coroner Emma Whitting said.

Leon Briggs inquest (PA Media)

Bedfordshire Police Deputy Chief Constable Trevor Rodenhurst said the family had had to wait “far too long” to hear the facts surrounding Mr Briggs’ death.

And he said: “The jury has today identified a number of significant failings by the police which contributed to the death of Mr Briggs and for this we are truly sorry.”

Margaret Briggs said the inquest has allowed her son’s “story to be told for the first time”, but added the fact the jury’s conclusion fell short of a verdict of unlawful killing has “not brought the closure we wanted”.

She said her family felt “truly shocked by the brutality of the treatment of Leon and by how he suffered in the last hour of his life” as they sat through  detailed video and audio evidence over the past two months.

Ms Briggs said in a statement: “Over the last seven-and-a-half years, we have faced what can only be described as a travesty of justice.

“There is no justice for people like Leon.

“During this inquest, we have heard evidence that has convinced my family and me that Leon was unlawfully killed by the police – this should have been the verdict today.”

Whatever the reasons were for Leon to have required the help of the police and ambulance services, he deserved to receive these services in full and to the same standard that any citizen of this country has the right to expect

But the secretary of Bedfordshire Police Federation, Emma Carter, disagreed with the jury’s verdict, saying the police restraint was “in accordance with their training”.

Speaking outside the court in Milton Keynes, Ms Carter said: “The officers reacted to Leon’s actions, so I would disagree, I wouldn’t say it was dangerous.”

She added that they “did their very best” to deal with “a very tragic incident”.

The jury of 10 also found that although police officers did “reasonably believe” it was appropriate to use force to restrain Mr Briggs while he was suffering a psychotic episode and had taken amphetamines, “inappropriate weight” was used against him “at times”.

Officers’ failure to recognise that Mr Briggs was in a state of medical emergency, and failure to monitor him in the police van and cell also contributed to his death, the jury said.

Paramedics from the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAS), who attended calls to Marsh Road where Mr Briggs was restrained, had admitted prior to the inquest the failure to check Mr Briggs’s vital signs or take him to hospital in an ambulance for medical treatment.

The inquest also found that Mr Briggs’ heart disease and mental health crisis also contributed to his death.

Coroner Emma Whitting concluded: “Whatever the reasons were for Leon to have required the help of the police and ambulance services, he deserved to receive these services in full and to the same standard that any citizen of this country has the right to expect.

“The jury have indicated that Leon was let down by these services, and his death was contributed to by neglect.”

Leon Briggs inquest (PA Media)

Just before 2pm on November 4, 2013, Bedfordshire Police officers attended a call over concerns that Mr Briggs was “behaving unusually”, by darting into shops, talking to himself and wandering into traffic near the junction between Marsh Road and Willow Way in Luton.

After Mr Briggs pushed past acting Sergeant Short and Pc Geoff Bennett, they used “excessive force” to restrain him face-down on the concrete in a “very dangerous fashion”, according to Dexter Dias QC, who was representing the Briggs family.

Witnesses said they heard Mr Briggs call out “please help me”, while another described him as “like a child crying out for a toy”.

During the inquest, the officers said they “wanted to do the best (they) could” for Mr Briggs while he was “shouting, struggling, and kicking out”, but Mr Dias accused them of “telling a pack of lies”.

Pc Peter Baron, who assisted the officers as Mr Briggs was restrained for more than 13 minutes, admitted the way they moved him to a police van “wasn’t ideal”.

Pc Daniel Sullivan, who teaches personal safety and physical training for Bedfordshire Police, said some of the police who carried Mr Briggs to the van had no training to do it correctly, and his treatment breached national guidelines.

Experienced paramedic Kevin Meade and emergency care assistant Sarah Freeman also attended Marsh Road but failed to check Mr Briggs’s vital signs which could have indicated that he needed to go to hospital rather than custody, the inquest heard.

The jury was shown CCTV footage of the moment Mr Briggs arrived at the police station repeatedly shouting “no” and screaming.

Several officers carried Mr Briggs into a cell before he lay still, face down and silent for a few minutes before officers called out his name and asked “are you alright?” before attempting to resuscitate him.

An ambulance arrived later on to take Mr Briggs to Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, where he died just after 4pm.

Bedfordshire Police said they had made “extensive changes” since 2013 and were committed to working with the coroner, who indicated she would consider issuing a prevention of future deaths report.

The best videos delivered daily

Watch the stories that matter, right from your inbox