Man takes his own life following police contact - South Yorkshire Police, August 2017

At 12.10am on 24 August 2017, South Yorkshire Police (SYP) officers arrested a man on suspicion of assault. They transported him to Shepcote Lane custody suite, where the custody officer authorised his detention. During his detention, the man made threats to hang himself if his partner had taken his methadone prescription. He remained in custody until 2.21pm, when SYP officers concluded no further action would be taken in relation to the offences.

The custody officer arranged for SYP officers to accompany the man to the council offices, where they helped arrange for the locks to his flat to be replaced and assisted in obtaining a methadone prescription. At 5.40pm, two council workers arrived at the man’s flat to replace the locks but found him hanging from the loft hatch. They telephoned for an ambulance and paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

On 13 March 2018, following a local investigation, SYP referred this to us after identifying potential misconduct on the part of the custody officer.

Investigators reviewed the evidence collated from the SYP investigation, the custody CCTV footage and interviewed the custody officer. During the investigation, the investigator found an indication that the custody officer may not have accurately completed the man’s pre-release risk assessment. The custody officer co-operated with the investigation and provided a detailed rationale for his decisions.

Based on the evidence available, we were of the opinion that the custody officer had acted in accordance with detention and custody guidance and did everything possible to mitigate the risk the man posed to himself. We found no indication that the custody officer had behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.

After reviewing our report, SYP agreed with our findings.