Prolonged use of a heavy webbing belt by police over the face of a vulnerable man during a mental health crisis may have contributed to his death, an inquest jury has concluded.
The way officers used the belt on church caretaker Thomas Orchard would have hampered his ability to breathe and increased his stress levels, the jury said.
Orchard, 32, who had paranoid schizophrenia, was arrested after a disturbance in Exeter in October 2012 and taken to the city’s Heavitree Road police station.
The officers used an “emergency response belt” (ERB), which had been designed as a limb restraint, as a “spit and bite hood” on him. He suffered a cardiac arrest and a brain injury before dying a week later.
During a six-week inquest in Exeter, Devon and Cornwall police conceded a series of failings in relation to the ERB. The force accepted there was a failure to “identify the risk of the ERB impacting upon the breathing when used as a spit or bite hood and that training around it was inadequate”.
Devon and Cornwall’s acting chief constable, Jim Colwell, offered “an unreserved apology” for the failings it had admitted in court.
He said: “Since Thomas’s death the force has implemented a significant amount of learning and improvement, specifically in relation to mental health awareness training for staff, use of force training and ensuring our custody provision offers the required level of care needed by those we come into contact with, particularly the most vulnerable.
“The inquest has been an important and long awaited process for Thomas’s family and others. My thoughts are with the family and also a number of colleagues who have had this matter at the forefront of their lives for over 11 years.”
The jury considered the use of the ERB was reasonable to stop Orchard biting or spitting but its prolonged use may have contributed to his death. It said the police’s admitted failings may also have contributed.
Orchard’s family have described him as a sensitive, free-spirited man and argued he was badly let down by the police, claiming officers should have treated his case as a medical emergency rather than a criminal incident.
At the 2017 trial of a police sergeant and two detention officers for Orchard’s manslaughter, prosecutors said the ERB was wrapped tightly around his face when he was carried in a prone position and then placed face down in a cell, restricting his ability to breathe. The three were cleared of manslaughter.
In 2019 Devon and Cornwall police was fined £234,500 after admitting breaching health and safety laws but has never accepted that the use of the belt directly led to Orchard’s death.
Speaking outside court, Orchard’s younger brother, Jack, said: “He should not have been arrested. He should have been taken to a place of safety. He was vulnerable and very very unwell. There was no attempt to talk to Thomas before they arrested him.”
His mother, Alison, said: “He was a very quiet and gentle person and the police tried to demonise him, portraying him as angry, violent and hostile.” Orchard’s older sister, Jo, said putting the ERB around her brother’s head must have been terrifying for him.
The family were frustrated that the coroner ruled the jury could not come to an unlawful killing conclusion or that the ERB played a probable role in his death.
