Police cleared of misconduct over [Habib Ullah] death

Habib Ullah & Familysource: The Guardian
published: 15 June 2015

Five police officers who changed their accounts of a stop and search carried out on a man who later died have been cleared of misconduct by a disciplinary panel.

Thames Valley officers DS Jason Liles, DC Richard Bazeley and PCs Kate Granger, Chris Pomery and Howard Wynne admitted deleting aspects of their initial statements, including references to use of force, from accounts subsequently provided to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) of their encounter with Habib “Paps” Ullah, a 39-year-old father of three.

Ullah, from Slough, Berkshire, was declared dead at Wycombe General hospital on the evening of 3 July 2008, around 90 minutes after the car in which he was travelling was stopped by officers in High Wycombe.

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‘Mark Duggan’s death could have been avoided’

Mark-Duggan_530x330source: The Voice Online
published: 23 March 2015

The death of Mark Duggan and the riots that followed could have been avoided, a Mail on Sunday investigation has revealed. One of the newspaper’s investigative reporters, David Rose, has said he has found evidence that failings on the part of the now-defunct Trident gun crime unit led to the shooting of the 29-year-old on August 4, 2011.

They could have instead focused on Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, the man serving time for supplying Duggan with a gun, who the family believe may have been a police informant and was being ‘protected by the police’.

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No convictions over more than 500 Black and Asian deaths in custody

IRR Report - DYING FOR JUSTICE
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source: The Guardian
published: 21 March 2015

More than 500 black and ethnic minority individuals have died in suspicious circumstances while in state detention over the past 24 years, but not a single official has been successfully prosecuted, a report examining institutional racism has revealed.

The report, by the Institute of Race Relations, concludes that too little has changed to prevent black and Asian people dying in detention and that seemingly racist attitudes remain a concern, with a “large proportion of these deaths involving undue force and many more a culpable lack of care”.

It concludes: “Despite narrative verdicts warning of dangerous procedures and the proliferation of guidelines, lessons are not being learnt: people die in similar ways year on year.”

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