The mother of a man who died after being restrained in police custody has told his inquest that he was a troubled, sensitive soul who had struggled with mental health issues but was doing “brilliantly” just before his death.
An inquest jury in Exeter heard that church caretaker Thomas Orchard, 32, collapsed after police placed a heavy fabric belt around his head following his arrest in the city centre. The “emergency response belt” (ERB), which was designed as a limb restraint, was used as a “spit and bite hood” on him.
On the opening day of her son’s inquest, his mother, Alison Orchard, said her son had paranoid schizophrenia, which could make him appear hostile.
But she added: “Thomas was a genuine person and a man of integrity … He was deeply insightful and had a gift for getting to the core essence of anything and everything. We miss him every day.”
The senior coroner, Philip Spinney, told the jury that a police sergeant and two detention officers involved in his arrest were cleared of the manslaughter of Thomas after a trial at Bristol crown court.
He also said the office of Devon and Cornwall’s chief constable had admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act over the ERB and been fined, though the sentencing judge said he could not be sure the belt was a significant contributory cause in Orchard’s death.
The long-awaited inquest is due to last six weeks. The coroner that it would look at issues including how the ERB was used, the decision to extend its use from a limb restraint to a spit and bite hood, and the training staff were given in its use.
Spinney said Thomas was arrested in Exeter in October 2012 after reports that he had been acting aggressively. He was restrained and taken to Heavitree Road police station.
The ERB was placed around his head and at one point he was carried in a prone position. He was placed face down in a cell and the ERB was removed. When it was noticed that he was unresponsive, emergency treatment including CPR was given and he was taken to hospital, but he never regained consciousness and died seven days later.
Ms Orchard told the jury that her son was a “dear, sweet boy” who loved the outdoors, nature and football, and had a fascination with religion and different cultures.
He struggled at school and began truanting aged 14, and dabbled in drugs. She said: “We attempted to get help but, at this point, most people advised us that Thomas’s behaviour was in the normal range for teenagers.”
In his late teens, he began to experience mental health issues. “His was a troubled young soul,” Ms Orchard said. Thomas had a period of homelessness and went to prison for a few months.
At age 24, he was sectioned and went on to spent a long period in and out of mental health units, including one spell of over a year. “Thomas was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but it was hard for the psychiatric team to get his medication levels right,” his mother said.
His life improved when he became a Christian and began attending St Thomas’ church in Exeter, where he worked as a caretaker and led prayer meetings. “Until just a few days before his death, everyone thought he was doing brilliantly,” Ms Orchard said. But just before he died, Orchard stopped taking his medication.
Ms Orchard said: “He was a man of contradictions: soft yet stubborn; caring yet unconcerned; funny yet serious; on the edge of society, yet profoundly conventional.
“Living with paranoid schizophrenia, Thomas frequently found the world a scary and incomprehensible place and that could make him behave in ways which were hard to understand and appear hostile.”
The inquest continues.
