The police watchdog has apologised “unreservedly” to the sister of a black man who died in police custody in London 15 years ago.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct apologised to Marcia Rigg, whose brother Sean died after losing consciousness at Brixton police station, for delays and police failings. She said she hoped that no other family would have to endure her family’s “never-ending trauma”.
Rigg, 40, who had paranoid schizophrenia, died of a cardiac arrest in 2008 after being restrained by police officers in the prone position. In 2012, an inquest jury deemed the restraint “unnecessary” and “unsuitable” and to have “more than minimally” contributed to his death.
In 2019, five officers involved were cleared of misconduct by a police misconduct panel. In May this year, Marcia Rigg learned via a Police Federation news article that three officers involved had secretly received compensation and an apology from the IOPC for delays in the case by its predecessor the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
On Friday, apologising to Marcia Rigg on the 15th anniversary of her brother’s death, Tom Whiting, the acting director general of the IOPC, said she should have been made aware of the claim.
He wrote: “[W]e did not inform you following the settlement and you instead learned of it through an article issued by the Police Federation, which we did not know about until after publication [published 15 May 2023].
“I understand that this caused you and your family anxiety, distress and upset in addition to that which you inevitably suffered in the wake of your brother’s death and investigations and proceedings that followed. For that I unreservedly apologise.”
Rigg previously received an apology in 2013 from Dame Anne Owers on behalf of the IPCC after Dr Silvia Casale’s review revealed a series of errors in its initial investigation, which ruled that the officers involved acted reasonably and proportionately.
Whiting apologised for the delay in the original investigation and “all of the IPCC’s delays thereafter, including in completing the second investigation and the time it took to bring matters to a conclusion”.
Responding to the apology, Rigg said she continued to be haunted by the “never-ending trauma and painful impact” of her brother’s death. “The whole judicial system in the UK is fundamentally flawed, institutionally racist, corrupt and a national public scandal,” she said.
Rigg said the 2012 inquest and the 2013 Casale review laid bare the police’s failings. “I appreciate these apologies and trust that the IOPC will now consider informing families and complainants of any similar compensation to officers by the IOPC as a matter of course, as a courtesy and in the wider public interest,” she said.
Deborah Coles, the director of the deaths-in-custody charity Inquest, which has supported the family since Sean Rigg’s death, said: “Fifteen years on and with no one properly held to account, this case provides a stark reminder of how the mechanisms for holding police to account are not fit for purpose.”
