Five officers cleared of misconduct in Sean Rigg case
The disciplinary case, brought by the Metropolitan Police and the IOPC, began to crumble in mid-February when a number of the charges were thrown out.Five Metropolitan Police officers have been cleared of misconduct over the arrest and detention of musician Sean Rigg who died in custody in 2008.
Police Constables Andrew Birks, Richard Glasson, Matthew Forward, Mark Harratt and Sergeant Paul White all faced Metropolitan Police disciplinary proceedings more than a decade after the 40-year-old died.
The investigations have taken so long that Mr Birks is now an ordained priest, although he is still paid a police salary because he was denied permission to resign while proceedings were ongoing.
On Friday, chairman of the hearing panel Commander Julian Bennett said: "The decision of the panel is that none of the allegations are proved."
The Police Federation has called for a year time limit for disciplinary proceedings in the wake of a number of cases that have taken several years to conclude.
Mr Rigg's sister Marcia, who has campaigned for nearly 11 years to get to the truth of what happened to her brother, said: "It's been traumatic, sleepless nights, anger. Reliving the death at various stages in these 10-and-a-half years that no family should have to go through."
- Mr Rigg
The physically fit musician, who had paranoid schizophrenia, died at Brixton Police Station in August 2008, and it was four years before the full inquest into his death took place, with jurors finding "unsuitable" force was used.
It was another four years before prosecutors finally confirmed that no criminal charges would be brought over his death, bar one count of perjury against Mr White, who was later cleared.
Police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has come under fire for delays in the case, and a failure with its initial investigation to get to grips with basic issues.
Charity Inquest claimed the inquiry had failed to secure comprehensive first accounts from the officers for six months or test their evidence against photographs and CCTV.
After the probe was reopened, watchdog investigators took a different approach, carrying out dawn raids and seizing Mr Harratt's personal phone as they looked into claims of dishonesty.
The disciplinary case, brought by the Metropolitan Police and the IOPC, began to crumble in mid-February when a number of the charges were thrown out.
Gross misconduct charges over claims that Mr Harratt, Mr Glasson and Mr Forward lied about Mr Rigg "spinning" himself around in the back of the police van collapsed after the panel found that the evidence against the officers was "extremely tenuous".
An expert witness who was asked to make a 3D animation of a figure in the back of apolice van initially concluded that it was highly unlikely for Mr Rigg to have moved in the way described.
But he changed his conclusion when shown a video of Mr Forward moving around in the way described, and stressed to the hearing that the software used was not meant for forensic purposes.
A pathologist who had been due to give evidence on the count was unable to appear in person to be cross examined so his account was ruled inadmissible.
Another witness, Inspector Andrew Dunn, refused to give any verbal evidence to the panel in protest at the length of time it had taken to bring proceedings.
He repeatedly referred lawyers back to his written statement and even refused to say whether he recognised himself in CCTV footage from the police station on the night Mr Rigg died.
The panel also found no case to answer for a separate count against Mr Harratt over an alleged failure to check Mr Rigg's passport details on the Police National Computer.
News Archive
- December 2023 (3)
- November 2023 (5)
- October 2023 (4)
- September 2023 (5)
- August 2023 (4)
- July 2023 (3)
- June 2023 (5)
- May 2023 (2)
- April 2023 (5)
- March 2023 (3)
- February 2023 (7)
- January 2023 (11)
- December 2022 (6)
- November 2022 (5)
- October 2022 (5)
- September 2022 (6)
- August 2022 (2)
- July 2022 (11)
- June 2022 (8)
- May 2022 (11)
- April 2022 (8)
- March 2022 (3)
- February 2022 (5)
- January 2022 (12)
- December 2021 (1)
- November 2021 (9)
- October 2021 (4)
- September 2021 (10)
- August 2021 (9)
- July 2021 (12)
- June 2021 (4)
- May 2021 (11)
- April 2021 (14)
- March 2021 (14)
- February 2021 (19)
- January 2021 (18)
- December 2020 (6)
- November 2020 (12)
- October 2020 (14)
- September 2020 (15)
- August 2020 (16)
- July 2020 (16)
- June 2020 (18)
- May 2020 (22)
- April 2020 (18)
- March 2020 (23)
- February 2020 (20)
- January 2020 (4)
- December 2019 (5)
- November 2019 (6)
- October 2019 (5)
- September 2019 (6)
- August 2019 (8)
- July 2019 (6)
- June 2019 (8)
- May 2019 (8)
- April 2019 (8)
- March 2019 (10)
- February 2019 (9)
- January 2019 (9)
- December 2018 (9)
- November 2018 (12)
- October 2018 (8)
- September 2018 (7)
- August 2018 (11)
- July 2018 (7)
- June 2018 (9)
- May 2018 (9)
- April 2018 (12)
- March 2018 (10)
- February 2018 (8)
- January 2018 (5)
- December 2017 (6)
- November 2017 (4)
- October 2017 (3)
- September 2017 (10)
- August 2017 (5)
- July 2017 (5)
- June 2017 (6)
- May 2017 (6)
- April 2017 (2)
- March 2017 (3)
- February 2017 (4)
- January 2017 (1)
- December 2016 (3)
- November 2016 (4)
- October 2016 (1)
- September 2016 (4)
- August 2016 (4)
- July 2016 (1)
- June 2016 (5)
- May 2016 (3)
- April 2016 (1)
- March 2016 (3)
- February 2016 (3)
- January 2016 (3)
- December 2015 (3)
- November 2015 (3)
- October 2015 (3)
- September 2015 (2)
- August 2015 (1)
- July 2015 (11)
- June 2015 (1)