Cordon near Nottingham railway station over suspicious package
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BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
'My son was in crisis - he needed help, not police restraint'
"My son was unwell. He wasn't under arrest, he hadn't committed a crime," said his father Nathaniel when a police welfare check escalated into Kaine Fletcher being sectioned in the early hours of 3 July 2022, he was handcuffed, struck and restrained for about 30 minutes. The 26-year-old - who had paranoid personality disorder - was eventually taken to the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham where he died hours a four-week inquest into his death at Nottingham Coroner's Court, a jury found "gross failings" by Nottinghamshire Police and others involved with his care contributed to his Ameyaw said the family had been "waiting for answers" about what happened for three years. 'Uncontrolled' combined force Police attended Mr Fletcher's accommodation at the young people's charity YMCA at 01:55 BST, over concerns he would harm himself. After agreeing to be taken to hospital by the officers, Mr Fletcher suddenly changed his mind, no longer believing they were really police. He was then detained under the Mental Health Act. Mr Fletcher was handcuffed, placed in three sets of leg restraints and had a spit hood over his face as he resisted the numerous officers was also hit with police batons and punched in the face during what officers called "distraction tactics" to stop him kicking his legs and biting his own fingers. Mr Fletcher's medical cause of death was recorded as "the physical affects of exertion following a period of restraint, combined with cocaine and other substances".The jury concluded the level of restraint by officers was "appropriate" but found officers' combined force was "uncontrolled". 'Needed help' Speaking to the BBC after the evidence concluded, Mr Ameyaw, said: "I am disgusted, and I am convinced, that had [the police] not done what they did for that length of time, Kaine would still be here now." To him, it looked like his son was being "attacked" in footage recorded by police body-worn Ameyaw added: "My son was unwell, he was floridly unwell. "He wasn't a threat, he hadn't lashed out at anybody, he needed help and at that time, he was in the police's care, and the help he received was what was described as restraint and distraction blows."The Independent Office for Police Conduct concluded no person serving with the police had committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner that justified disciplinary proceedings. 'Resources weren't there' Officers had been called to the home of Mr Fletcher's mother the day before his death, as he was experiencing another "mental health disturbance". It was discussed then that he should be sectioned and taken to a place of safety - a decision his family supported. But under the guidance of a community nurse, Mr Fletcher was taken back to his accommodation with no further intervention. His condition deteriorated overnight and led to the police welfare check that started the chain of events leading to his Ameyaw said the inquest highlighted "failure after failure, after failure". To his close-knit family, Mr Fletcher was a talented young man and a loving father who was always the "life of the party" and "full of beans".But in the weeks before his death, they said they watched his mental health decline while they pleaded for 26-year-old was referred to a local mental health team under Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in February 2022, and discharged in June, having received no treatment. On one occasion, his aunts Kelly and Letitia Fletcher joined Mr Fletcher's father at a mental health hospital where they "begged and pleaded" for him to be admitted. "Even on that day they couldn't accept him and he was told to come back when they had beds available. "It was an ongoing fight for help," Kelly said. Letitia added: "It was really hard. We all tried so hard to get Kaine the help he needed. The resources weren't there." 'Fast-moving medical incident' The inquest heard officers had breached a joint policy between police and East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS )when they did not call an ambulance once Mr Fletcher was and ambulance workers told the inquest they were unaware of the policy. Assistant coroner Alexandra Pountey issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report to both Nottinghamshire Police and EMAS over the "lack of understanding" around the joint policy. Mr Ameyaw said: "What we want to see change is that other people are treated differently when they're in mental health crisis - not with a heavy-handed approach. "Not as if they're a criminal or they've committed an offence or they've drank 10 pints and they're being aggressive - because none of those things happened." Assistant Chief Constable Suk Verma, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "The officers had responded to a challenging and fast-moving medical incident and worked to understand the situation with the information provided by those present and with a primary aim of ensuring the safety of everyone, including Mr Fletcher."Making sure we operate in the safest way possible is of paramount importance to us, so a representative from our force has been present throughout the inquest to carefully listen to the coroner's observations." The force added it would reflect on the findings to ensure it continued to take "all the necessary steps" to keep the public and its workforce Majid, Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire Healthcare said: "We accept the findings of the jury and the coroner and apologise for those aspects of care which were not of the standard they should have been." If you've been affected by the issues in this story, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line.
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
'We're all to blame': Mum and daughter lay dead for months
How did a mother and her 18-year-old daughter lie dead in their home for months and nobody knew?This is just one of the questions examined during the inquest into the deaths of Alphonsine Djiako Leuga and Loraine had Down's syndrome and her mother was her carer. They were known to social services. And yet they had "lain undiscovered for some time" in their home in Radford, Nottingham, last a tragic case that has left people in the community not only blaming the authorities, but also themselves. "What went wrong? Did the system fail her? That's the question," a friend told the had met Alphonsine, who was born in Cameroon, outside the Victoria Centre in Nottingham when they had just arrived in the UK in 2016 from Italy. She had two daughters with her at the was a time of desperation."I met them on the street. They had nowhere to go," she explained."She was speaking French. I spoke in French."They all stayed with the friend, who did not want to be named, at her house for up to eight weeks."I took her in because she is a Cameroonian. I am a Cameroonian too, my kids are not home either," she added. Later in 2019, Alphonsine, 47, and her two daughters moved into their council house in Hartley Road and got to know locals in the community. The older of the two children, who is in her 20s, moved out in April 2022, the inquest shopkeeper affectionately called Alphonsine "Cameroon woman", and described her as an easy-going person with a happy hard times followed, and Alphonsine would go on to tell locals her heating had been cut off and Loraine was not going to school, which had affected her benefits and ability to pay the bills. A local business let her buy food on credit."Whenever she would get money she would clear her bill," the employee said."Maybe £20 worth of items... just little meal for a few days."She would buy frozen food and dry items and what her daughter wanted, according to the staff member, who did not want to be it was winter, it was cold and she could not heat her home as December house appeared unkempt and had signs of shop worker said at this time, Alphonsine visited the store with a swollen face."I was asking, 'are you ok? 'What's happening'? She said the cold is too much," they inquest - which began on Monday at Nottingham Coroner's Court - heard Alphonsine had begun to disengage with housing and social services in 2021, refusing access to her house. 'System is wrong' It meant inspections did not take place and her gas supply was subsequently capped. When she asked for it to be turned back on, she didn't grant access to her property. Alphonsine and Loraine remained without hot water and heating from January 2024, Alphonsine was critically ill having just spent days in hospital with very low iron 2 February, she told an ambulance call handler she needed help for herself and her daughter."Would you send an ambulance? Please come, please," were the last words she said on the phone before the call ambulance never came as it had been wrongly labelled as an "abandoned call", and Alphonsine died first - between 2 and 8 February - of pneumonia, leaving Loraine, who relied "entirely" on her mum, to fend for died weeks later of malnutrition and news of their deaths emerged, the community was left shocked and with questions: How could this happen? How did they not see the signs?"It's so upsetting. She and her daughter were probably in that house undetected for maybe months," the shop worker said."It means there is problem in the community. Everybody is by themselves. Nobody can check [on] each other."I believe someone like that should be more supported. The system is wrong." Next-door neighbour Deborah Williams described seeing the mother struggling with Loraine at times, who was non-verbal and physically strong for her told the BBC she would overhear Alphonsine helping her with her language skills."You'd hear her mum trying to support her with speaking. It was almost like you could tell that mum was reading baby books and wanting her daughter to copy," she said the pair were good neighbours and recalled last seeing them at the start of this point she said the garden was overgrown, there was mould on the windows - which were left ajar in winter - and the back gates were in need of the "telling signs" went unnoticed among the wider community. "I live in the area, where it's a not a bad thing to keep yourself to yourself," Deborah said."You do kind of want to be invisible. You don't want any trouble. You don't want to draw attention."It just never really occurred to me that it could be that severe a situation, but those are telling signs that something is not right."In happier times, she described seeing the pair out and about with matching hairstyles. "Mum's deciding that she's going to have a yellow or an orange weave, the daughter's going to have the same one as well," Deborah recalled. She had had two visits from social services enquiring about the whereabouts of the pair and felt the council, as a landlord, had a responsibility to care staff attempted to visit Alphonsine and Loraine in early 2024 but when it appeared to them the house was empty, they left. The coroner said there were "missed opportunities, particularly by Nottingham City Council social care teams, to escalate concerns" around the pair and to involve police in welfare added Alphonsine and Loraine's quiet nature - they weren't a nuisance or noisy - meant no action was triggered."That's a sad thing," she said. "The daughter was so reliant on the mum - she wouldn't even know how to get a key and to let herself out."She can't shout, raise an alarm of some sort. They [Loraine] didn't have the functionality to do something like open the front door, because that person, your person was everything. That person was responsible for your life." When police discovered the pair, there was evidence teenager Loraine had tried to feed herself, the inquest were two unopened tins of tuna found in the microwave and half-eaten food in the bedroom, including bread and raw Ellahi, who owns a barbershop opposite their home, said he felt angry when he found out about their deaths."I felt sad because obviously I'm across the road and used to see her every week or so," he said."I blame myself. I blame everybody who lives round here, because we should have been more of a community and we should look after our neighbours."The ignorance of not talking to [a] neighbour next-door, not knowing the name, that's the problem."Jamil thinks if communities were more sociable, problems would not go under the radar."We're all to blame. You can't just put the finger on one person, or one society, or one group. It's all of us."We all, we all have to take a lesson from this."Additional reporting by Asha PatelIf you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, support is available via the BBC Action Line.
The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
Troubled New Orleans jail apologizes after releasing detainee by mistake
The jail in New Orleans from which 10 inmates escaped in May mistakenly released another detained man on Friday, according to authorities. Khalil Bryan, 30, was being held on a $100,000 bench warrant related to a failure to appear for arraignment on charges of aggravated assault with a firearm, domestic abuse child endangerment and home invasion, officials said. He was also being held on other charges as well as a warrant from a neighboring jurisdiction. Nonetheless, while processing a bond posted for another inmate by an unrelated person, deputies for the sheriff's office operating the jail failed to properly verify the inmate's identity and mistakenly released Bryan instead, said the office of the local district attorney, Jason Williams. Williams's office said in a statement that Bryan's erroneous release underscored 'the ongoing systemic issues surround the exercise of custody and control over detained individuals'. 'The failure to properly confirm the identity of an inmate prior to release is an unacceptable lapse that presents a real and immediate risk to public safety,' Williams's office said. A statement from the sheriff in charge of the jail, Susan Hutson, said her office took 'full responsibility for the clerical error that led to the mistaken release of Khalil Bryan'. 'We offer our sincere apology to the public, our law enforcement partners, and the court,' Hutson's statement said. 'This incident was the result of human error: a misidentification based on a shared last name between two individuals. We are … conducting a full internal investigation, and I can confirm that disciplinary actions will occur.' Hutson pledged that her office would collaborate with efforts to 'ensure [Bryan's] swift return to custody'. The sheriff has been under withering political criticism after 10 men in custody at the New Orleans jail escaped the facility on 16 May in one of the largest jailbreaks in recent US history. Authorities said the men yanked open a faulty cell door inside the New Orleans jail, squeezed through a hole behind a toilet, scaled a barbed-wire fence and fled into the dark. Their escapes were undetected for hours. Nine of the escapers have been recaptured, and investigators have arrested people who are accused of helping them in some fashion. The 10th escaper – Derrick Groves, who had been convicted of two murders and had pleaded guilty to a pair of other killings – remained at large as of Friday. Hutson has said she plans to run for re-election in October despite a recent poll which estimated her public approval rating was at a dismal 18%. Challengers who have signed up to run against her are also outpacing her in terms of campaign finances. The New Orleans jail has been subject to federal monitoring for years as well as a consent decree aimed at improving conditions there. Guardian reporting partner WWL Louisiana contributed reporting
