Families of people who died in police custody have been failed by legal system, finds report

Report calls for free legal advice for families of those who die in custody and an end to holding the mentally ill in police cells

The report has called for an end to mentally ill people being held in police cells (PA)

The families of people who die in police custody are being failed by the forces involved, according to a critical new report.

Ordered by Theresa May in 2015 when she was still Home Secretary, the findings from Dame Elish Angiolini QC have yet to be published, triggering criticism from campaign groups who say the delay is undermining public confidence.

It reportedly recommends that the families of people who die in police custody should automatically receive “free, non means-tested” legal advice all the way up to the conclusion of the inquest. This will ensure their rights are protected, it says.

This would go some way to redressing the balance between the resources of the state and the individual as few families are able to claim legal aid.

There should be a ban on people who are detained under the mental health act being held in police cells or being transported in police vehicles except under extraordinary circumstances, the report says, according to The Guardian, which originally reported the story.

It also said the use of police cells to detain those suspected to have a mental health problem should be phased out completely.

The nearly 300 page report makes more than 100 recommendations.

They include ending the practice where police officers confer after incidents but before making official statements so they are potentially able to agree what to say.

Officers transporting suspects and prisoners should also hve to wear bodycams, it says, It also recommends cameras be placed in every police van.

It also says “there is evidence of disproportionate deaths of black and minority ethnic people” in police restraint deaths and called on forces to condemn the practice of “victim blaming” via leaks to the media.

Ms May first called for the inquiry after meeting with the families of Sean Rigg and Olaseni Lewis who died in 2008 and 2010 respectively after being restrained by police officers.

She said she hoped the review would end the “evasiveness and obstruction” suffered by families and “transform the relationship between the public and the police and to preserve the historic principle that the public are the police and the police are the public”.

In the case of Sean Rigg, an initial Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) cleared officers after he died in a south London police station in 2008 but a subsequent inquest exposed the flaws of the IPCC investigation and found officers contributed to his death and failed to uphold his basic rights.

But this inquest was only able to come to this conclusion after Rigg’s family were told they needed to contribute £21,000 to get funding for a legal aid lawyer.

The Independent has contacted the Home Office for comment on why the report has not been published, but none had arrived at the time of publication.