Police to face charges over unlawful death?
01 August 2003
In October St Pancras coroners court found that Roger Sylvester, a 30-year old black man who died after being restrained by up to eight police officers in north London in January 1999, had been unlawfully killed (see Statewatch vol 9 no 1). The outcome, which began to answer some of the questions raised by Roger’s family during their four-year long campaign for justice, prompted the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to announce that it will review the case against eight police officers. They could now face manslaughter charges for using excessive force while the family could bring claims for damages from the Metropolitan police force. In 2000 the CPS ruled that there was not enough evidence to prosecute any of the officers involved in Roger’s death.
The inquest concluded on 3 October when a jury returned a unanimous unlawful killing verdict, stressing that Roger had been restrained for too long and that his death was caused by more force being applied than was "reasonably necessary". In addition to being held in the restraint position for too long, there was a lack of medical attention and no attempt was made to alter his position of restraint. Roger family greeted the verdict with cheers and tears and said that it was "a just verdict". They added that they hoped the police would now change the way that they trained officers to deal with people in custody but emphasized that there also needed to be "appropriate sanctions".
As a result of the jury's verdict a CPS spokesman said that it would review its earlier decision not to bring charges against the policemen: "As with all inquest verdicts the CPS will review the case in light of all the evidence, including any new evidence given at the inquest and observations of the jury." Deborah Coles, of INQUEST, an organisation that gives support and advice to families of those who die in custody, stressed the importance of a prosecution being brought:
The jury have decided that police officers used dangerous, excessive and unlawful force restraining Roger Sylvester, a vulnerable and mentally ill young man in the prone or three-quarters position for some 15-20 minutes until he stopped breathing. We now expect them to be prosecuted.
In the Prison Service, staff have been instructed against prone restraint for more than five minutes while some psychiatric institutions instruct their staff not to use the restraint for more than 30 seconds. If the CPS declines to bring a prosecution of the police officers the Sylvester family will consider a civil action.
Following the unlawful killing verdict the Metropolitan police, which expressed its "disappointment" at the verdict, suspended the officers involved in Roger’s death - it remains to be seen if any charges will be brought against them. The officers have said they may appeal against the inquest verdict. Even if a prosecution is brought it is, judging from legal precedent, highly unlikely that a conviction will follow, as "there has only ever been one successful prosecution of officers involved in a black death in custody" (Harmit Attwal, Institute of Race Relations). In April 2002 five police officers facing charges of manslaughter and misconduct charges for their involvement in the death of Christopher Alder in 1988 were cleared after the judge instructed the jury to clear them because of conflicting medical evidence (see Statewatch vol 8 no 6, vol 9 no 1, 5).
Harmit Athwal "Roger Sylvester - police indicted for black death" http://www.irr.org; INQUEST press release 3.10.03, http://inquest.gn.apc.
org; BBC News.