4WardEverUK

Training of police officers criticised over cell death

Paul Coker
Paul Coker

originally published by: The BBC
3rd March 2010

Inadequate training and communication between officers led to them failing to recognise the condition of a cocaine addict who died in police custody.

Paul Coker died at Plumstead police station hours after he was arrested for breaching the peace at his girlfriend’s home in August 2005, an inquest heard. He told officers “I can’t breathe, you’re killing me”, during the arrest.

The inquest jury at Southwark Coroner’s Court found officers did not recognise the “symptoms of excited delirium.”Two hours after his arrest at Lucy Chadwick’s house in south-east London, Mr Coker, 32, became unwell and collapsed after being transported to cells, the inquest heard. Selena Lynch, the assistant deputy coroner, told jurors that a pathologist’s report gave the cause of death as cocaine intoxication.

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4WardEverUK

Death row Briton pleas to US Supreme Court

Linda Cartyoriginally published by: The BBC
26th February 2010

A British grandmother on death row in Texas is lodging a last-ditch appeal with the US Supreme Court.

Linda Carty, 51, faces execution within months unless the court agrees to rehear her abduction and murder case. A video plea in support of Carty, who was born on St Kitts to parents from the British territory of Anguilla, will be submitted to the court.

Campaigners say her conviction in 2002 for the murder of a 25-year-old woman was “catastrophically flawed”. The appeal from her legal team will be made alongside a document from the British government outlining its concerns over her sentence.

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Mother gets new inquest on son killed in Germany

Jeremiah Duggan
Jeremiah Duggan

originally published by: The Local
27th February 2010

A British woman whose son died in Germany in 2003 after becoming involved with a far-right cult, has succeeded in getting authorities to conduct a highly-unusual second inquest into his death.

Erica Duggan has been trying to find out how her son Jeremiah died since he was found dead on a road near Wiesbaden in the early hours of March 27, 2003, according to a report in the British paper The Independent.

He called her that night, telling her he was in trouble, and spelling out the place he was staying, before being interrupted and cut off. Within a few hours the police phoned Duggan to tell her Jeremiah had been found dead.

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