IPCC Issues Findings From Investigation Into Death Of Reece Staples In Nottinghamshire

The IPCC investigation found that Nottinghamshire Police officers failed to provide Reece Staples with an appropriate level of care following his arrest, and that they should have take him to hospital for medical treatment straight away on him telling them he had swallowed drugs.

· the arresting officers did not take seriously Mr Staples’ significant comment to them that he was going to die as he had swallowed drugs and had just returned from Costa Rica, and they failed to seek immediate medical treatment for him;

· following Mr Staples being taken to a police cell the custody sergeant was belatedly informed of his comment about swallowing drugs, and the sergeant failed at this time to seek appropriate medical assistance or to revisit the initial risk assessment.

IPCC Commissioner Amerdeep Somal said: "I would like to again give my condolences to the family of Reece Staples who should have been given better care by Nottinghamshire Police. Officers should have sought immediate medical attention for Mr Staples when they arrested him. It was unacceptable that it took well over an hour after arriving at the police station for an officer to pass on to the custody sergeant that Mr Staples had said he had swallowed drugs. It was equally remiss of the custody sergeant, who is responsible for the care of detainees, not to act on the information when belatedly told. As a result of the IPCC investigation the force has taken steps to remind its officers of the need for urgent medical attention if it is known or suspected someone has swallowed drugs. We recommended that five officers had a case to answer for gross misconduct and they have since received final written warnings from the force following a hearing last year.”

A post mortem carried out soon after his death found Mr Staples died of cocaine toxicity and discovered 19 packages of cocaine in his stomach. In evidence to the inquest last week the forensic pathologist stated that Mr Staples would have died even had he been taken to hospital earlier. Nottinghamshire Police have made a number of changes to custody training and practice to address the findings of the IPCC investigation and have reinforced that if an individual is believed to have swallowed drugs they must be taken to hospital. On a recent visit to force custody suites an IPCC investigator spoke to a number of officers and was satisfied that learning had been well disseminated.

At around 1.15 am on Sunday 7 June 2009 Reece Staples was arrested in Mill Street, Nottingham on suspicion of criminal damage. At the time of the arrest he told officers a number of times that he had ‘been to Costa Rica three days ago and swallowed some coke’ and said to them ‘I’m going to die’. He told officers to check with the airline to confirm he had been to Costa Rica. He was brought to Oxclose Lane police station and put in a holding room at around 1.25 am where he was seen to act strangely. He was taken to the custody desk just before 2.30 am and booked in, at which time a risk assessment was carried out. He was taken to a cell where he was searched. An officer then informed the custody sergeant of Mr Staples’ earlier remark about swallowing drugs. Mr Staples remained in the police cell until shortly before 5 am when CCTV shows him to have a seizure and collapse. Custody staff attended and commenced first aid while an ambulance was called. He was taken by ambulance to the Queens Medical Centre where he was found to have died.

The investigation found that officers carrying out the initial arrest did not believe what Reece Staples had said partly as he had also told them that he was ‘out jogging’ and that he had a knife. No knife was found in his possession. Officers felt that the comment about swallowing drugs was said in a casual manner and they believed made in an attempt to avoid arrest. As the most likely consequence of the claim was for Mr Staples to be arrested for a more serious offence than criminal damage, this rationale was badly flawed and led to them effectively ignoring the information. In the early stages of the investigation, the IPCC found a relevant guidance document ‘Procedure for the event of internal swallowing of controlled drugs’ existed on Nottinghamshire Police’s intranet, but no evidence that patrol officers had received any training in relation to it. The IPCC immediately made the force aware of this apparent gap in officer training. The custody record shows no reference to Mr Staples’ comment about swallowing drugs, or to the initial risk assessment being reviewed by the custody sergeant on being made aware of this important information.

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