31 October 201317 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Jury finds ‘serious failings’ in the death of Sarah Higgins

provided by: INQUEST
published: 29 October 2013

The inquest into the death of Sarah Higgins at HMP Bronzefield concluded on 28 October 2013 with the jury finding that serious procedural failings and inadequate training contributed to her death.

Sarah died on 8 May 2010 aged 30. At the time of her death, Sarah had three children aged 5, 6 and 11. Sarah was discovered unresponsive on the floor of her cell shortly before 4.30 am by a Prison Custody Officer. Emergency resuscitation was unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead at 4.48 am. A Kinder Egg containing various drugs was found in her clothing.

28 October 201317 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Tippa Naphtali speaks out: Fury as ‘lethal’ Taser use on children rises

by: The Sunday Post
published: 27 October 2013

Tippa Naphtali speaks out to Sunday Post.

A furious row has broken out over the use of police stun guns on children. Official guidelines warn of potentially fatal consequences if youths are hit by the 50,000-volt Taser devices. But despite this, their use in confrontations with under-18s has rocketed by 1,000% over five years.

Figures show police used the weapons on just 29 occasions in 2007 but that shot up to 323 in 2011, an average of six times a week.

This included firing them outright and doing “drive stuns” in which the device is placed against a youth’s body and fired without causing incapacitation.

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28 October 201317 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Coroner rules that young father died of ‘natural causes’

originally by: Voice Online
published: 21 October 2013

Relatives of a ‘healthy’ 24-year-old Birmingham man who died in hospital have been left ‘devastated and frustrated’ by the verdict of an inquest into his death. They have now resorted to lodging formal complaints to the General Medical Council and the Ministry of Justice.

Jonathan Malia died in Lister District General Hospital in Stevenage on January 17 this year after being transferred from the nearby Cygnet Hospital, a mental health unit, where he had been staying for nearly two weeks.

A coroner at Hatfield Coroner’s Court ruled that Malia died of natural causes on October 9, claiming he had a thrombosis, which triggered a pulmonary embolism.