Woman becomes unwell in custody - South Wales Police, January 2019

On 13 January 2019 a woman was detained by South Wales Police. She was subject to a cursory search following her arrest, and again upon her arrival at the custody unit. The woman’s father told the arresting officer that she had tablets on her person. The arresting officer subsequently informed three colleagues, who escorted the woman to the custody unit. The custody sergeant was not given the information provided by the woman’s father.

The woman was taken to a cell, as she was not engaging with the risk assessment process. She subsequently ingested a quantity of tablets, which were believed to have been concealed in her underwear.

The woman was taken to hospital in a police van, and was found to be unresponsive on arrival. She was treated at hospital for two days for a drug overdose, and was then returned to the custody unit.

The woman was strip searched on her return, assessed by a healthcare professional, and interviewed before she was released under investigation.

During the investigation, our investigators reviewed documentary evidence, obtained and reviewed CCTV and body-worn video evidence, and obtained accounts from the officers involved. We served two officers with notices to inform them that their conduct was under investigation.

We found no evidence that the officers had deliberately withheld from the custody sergeant information that the woman had medication on her. We were therefore of the view that their oversight could be adequately dealt with by way of management action.

Our investigation also looked at allegations that one of the officers did not adequately check or attempt to rouse the woman or conduct any emergency life-saving care after her condition deteriorated on the way to hospital, despite knowing she had swallowed tablets,. As they were less than three miles away from the hospital, our view was that it was reasonable to seek to obtain professional medical assistance as soon as possible. We considered that the officer should have made greater efforts to rouse the woman, to check her level of consciousness. In view of the officer’s relative inexperience, and their admitted knowledge gaps in respect of overdose, we were of the opinion that this matter could proportionately be dealt with by way of management action.

We completed our investigation in July 2019.

After reviewing our report South Wales Police agreed that the two officers would receive management action, together with a third officer, who had also accompanied the woman into custody and failed to inform the custody sergeant that she had medication on her.