Admission of liability, apology and damages arising from a death in police custody in December 2016. Kelly Hartigan-Burns had been found in the street in a distressed and highly vulnerable state, but was nonetheless arrested. No account was taken of the known risk she faced upon arrest, or upon admission to custody, when she was treated with a total lack of respect or engagement. She was found unresponsive within an hour or so of being locked in a cell and died the next day. After a long battle for accountability by Kelly’s mother and brother, the Custody Sergeant who processed her was found guilty of gross misconduct and would have been dismissed had he not just retired, and an inquest jury returned a highly critical verdict in April 2022. An IOPC investigation around the evidence given to the inquest by another officer continues.
