Officers’ actions when finding a man with a ligature around his neck - Essex Police, December 2018

On 6 December 2018, two Essex Police officers went to check on a man at his home after a mental health practitioner raised concerns for his welfare. One room of the man’s home was found to have been barricaded from the inside and, when the officers forced entry to the room, they found the man in it. He appeared to have hanged himself.

When a paramedic arrived, she found the man to be warm to the touch and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The man was transferred to hospital, but was pronounced dead a short time later.

During the investigation we reviewed the body-worn video (BWV) footage recorded by the officers and obtained statements from all who attended the incident and from community psychiatric nurses.

The BWV footage provided evidence that one of the officers had checked the man for a pulse, which he could not feel, and had concluded that the man was dead, based on this fact and the observation that he did not appear to be breathing. Both officers stated that they had not removed the ligature from the man’s neck as a result of this conclusion and had sought to preserve evidence from the scene.

The paramedics stated that they checked for signs of life when they arrived. They made efforts to revive the man based on the finding that he was still warm to the touch.

At the end of the investigation, based on the evidence available, we found no indication that any person serving with the police may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings, or had committed a criminal offence.

Essex Police proposed that both officers receive further training to be able to effectively deal with another hanging scenario. It was therefore our view that management action was not required. We completed our investigation in September 2019.