Watson Woodhouse solicitor, Lucy Wennington, recently represented the family of Michael Smith in the inquest into his death.
Michael passed away in his cell at Durham Prison in July 2020 despite his father warning the authorities who were responsible for his care that he was at risk.
However, the inquest was told that this information from his father was not passed on. Upon Michaels’s arrival in prison, he was also restrained twice by three prison officers and then a body scanner was used which found he had concealed drugs, but these were not actually taken from him.
Senior assistant coroner Crispin Oliver told jurors at the inquest into Michael’s death that they must also consider whether a lack of medical or mental health assessment at the prison, the control and manner of his restraint and a failure to de-escalate ultimately contributed to his death the following day.
On the 9th November 2022, the jury recorded a verdict of “misadventure” and the inquest concluded that the use of restraint techniques on Michael was “disproportionate”.
Senior assistant coroner Crispin Oliver was highly critical of the prison and said action should be taken to deal with a “critical lack of staffing” at the prison but “notably in the segregation unit”.
He told the inquest that it was his opinion that “action should be taken to prevent the risk of such circumstances”.
Mr Oliver has issued the chief inspector of prisons with a Regulation 28 Notice (Prevention of Future Deaths Report). This is used when a coroner believes actions should be taken by an organisation to prevent further deaths.
The family are hoping that a report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will also be highly critical.
Mr Oliver is also going to write to the director general of prisons about unsafe staffing levels in the segregation unit because the last HM Inspectorate Report said this had been resolved.
The inquest has been heavily reported in the media and further reports are likely to follow.
Lucy Wennington commented on the inquest, “This case demonstrates the value in bereaved families having legal representation at an inquest which engages Article 2 of the Human Rights Act, especially where the State body such as a Prison, Police, Mental Health Trust are an interested party. The Government Guide to Inquests suggests that a bereaved family does ‘not need to have a lawyer to attend or participate in an inquest’ but ‘may want to consider getting legal help for an inquest hearing if other interested persons are represented, for example if the state or a public body has legal representation at the inquest’. In our experience, the State body involved will ALWAYS have a solicitor or barrister acting for them in an inquest of this nature and it is therefore vital for bereaved families to also be legally represented to ensure equality of arms. More often than not non-means tested legal aid funding is available, meaning the family can receive assistance without any direct cost.
In this case there were 35 witnesses, many of whom were extensively cross-examined in court by the family’s barrister and the key evidence of the Bodyworn Video and CCTV footage was only eventually released to be played to the Jury in open court, this was only achieved following detailed legal submissions made by this firm, highlighting the relevance of the footage for the purpose of the Coroner’s investigation. There were also hundreds of pages of additional documents which we managed to obtain. Without this vital additional evidence being included the jury may not have had opportunity to consider evidence of vital importance which it is clear was the basis of a significant part of their findings.”
In the Media:
The inquest verdict was reported on BBC Look North. You can watch it on BBC iPlayer here at 2:25 – https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001f1lf/look-north-north-east-and-cumbria-evening-news-09112022
The inquest verdict was also reported on ITV News. You can watch it here from 8:00 – https://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2022-08-30/catch-up-watch-the-itv-tyne-tees-evening-programme
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-63562152
- Durham Prison death inquest criticises restraint methods – BBC News
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