Warwickshire police officers face disciplinary proceedings after reinvestigation into the death of Darren Cumberbatch

An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) reinvestigation of police contact with Darren Cumberbatch before his death, has concluded that five serving and former Warwickshire officers have a case to answer over their conduct.

Four of them will face a gross misconduct hearing and a fifth will face a misconduct meeting over their actions during an incident at a Nuneaton bail hostel in 2017 when Mr Cumberbatch was restrained.

The incident, on 10 July that year, started at the hostel in Edward Street and continued at the George Eliot Hospital, where Mr Cumberbatch, aged 32, sadly died nine days later. Following a mandatory referral from Warwickshire Police, the then Independent Police Complaints Commission began an independent investigation. That was completed by the IOPC the following year (2018) when we shared our findings with Mr Cumberbatch’s family, Warwickshire Police and the Coroner.

An inquest in 2019 found Mr Cumberbatch’s death was drug related. The jury also concluded that police restraint contributed to his death, that there were “serious failings” by attending police officers and that some of the force used “may have been excessive” and “probably avoidable.” They determined that police restraint on Mr Cumberbatch at the hospital was reasonable.

Following representations by Mr Cumberbatch’s family and careful consideration of new evidence at the inquest, which included accounts from the officers and other witnesses, we decided in July 2022 that there should be a reinvestigation of police use of force at the hostel. That included use of Taser, PAVA spray, punches and baton strikes in a confined toilet area.

We also examined to what extent officers considered that he may have been medically vulnerable.

On conclusion of our reinvestigation, we reached a final decision at the end of August 2025 that four of the officers, all constables, had a case to answer for gross misconduct in relation to alleged breaches of the police standards of professional behaviour for use of force, and duties and responsibilities, for failing to risk assess the situation or treat it as a medical emergency. Two of the four are no longer serving police officers.

We decided that a fifth constable, who was not involved in using force against Mr Cumberbatch, should face a misconduct meeting for alleged breaches in relation to duties and responsibilities. This concerns the level of communication and planning with colleagues before the decision was made to enter and remove Mr Cumberbatch from the toilet block.

Our findings are being released now following discussions with Warwickshire Police about the format of the proceedings and a period of consultation with the force, Mr Cumberbatch’s family, and the officers concerned.

IOPC Director Emily Barry said: “Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Mr Cumberbatch and all those affected by his death. These investigations have taken a long time to reach conclusion and we do not underestimate the impact this will have had on them and the officers involved, for which we are sorry. Since this investigation started, we have transformed our processes to improve the quality and timeliness of our investigations.

“It was important, however, that the circumstances surrounding Mr Cumberbatch’s death were thoroughly examined. Following our reinvestigation we determined that two serving officers and two former officers have cases to answer for gross misconduct. We also determined that a fifth officer should attend a misconduct meeting.

“We have now directed Warwickshire Police to arrange the disciplinary proceedings, which they are responsible for organising.”

All parties have been informed of our conclusions.

On completion of the reinvestigation we also decided not to send a file of evidence for the Crown Prosecution Service to consider any criminal charges.