Selva Ramasamy KC and Tom Orpin-Massey, instructed by Stephen Hooper of Clyde & Co, acted for SC, a custody nurse, who had been charged with gross negligence manslaughter and failing to discharge a general health and safety duty at work.
The case came about following the death of WC when he was in custody at a police station in Reading. He died of cardio-respiratory arrest due to a combination of drugs and alcohol.
His condition had changed rapidly - prior to arrest he had been walking and talking coherently to the arresting officers, but immediately after arrest he became limp. The officers who arrested him thought he was faking his symptoms to avoid detention. The custody sergeant at the police station formed the same view, and this information was passed on to SC by the police custody team. SC examined WC and formed the view that he was fit to detain. Thereafter, the police custody team ought to have conducted 30 minute checks on WC, including rousing him. They failed to do so. Nor did they summon SC to inform him of any ongoing concerns about WC.
WC was found in cardiac arrest several hours later, and was pronounced dead.
WC's death occurred in January 2020. Charges were not brought until 2025. The case was extremely complicated - the IOPC’s investigation spanned more than 4 years, with expert opinion being obtained from several leading specialists. Much of the trial focused on expert evidence in the fields of emergency medicine, forensic medicine and toxicology. A central question was the issue of survivability. The combination of drugs WC had consumed raised the possibility of cardiac toxicity - a rare condition which can cause sudden death.
Following a 5 week trial before Mrs Justice Thornton, SC was acquitted by the jury on both counts, unanimously.
The case has been widely reported in the press:
Selva Ramasamy KC
Tom Orpin-Massey