from Black Mental Health UK
16th December 2009

The jury at the inquest into the tragic death while in police custody of service user Michael Lloyd Powell (known as Mikey) today returned a damning verdict  and found that the way that he was restrained resulted in his death from positional asphyxia.

We have worked for six years to reach this point – the jury have found that the position the police put Mikey in killed him .   Hopefully this will give some encouragement to other families who have lost someone in custody,’ Mikey’s sister Sieta Lambrias said.

This landmark case has gripped the attention of with large sections of the community who are increasingly concerned about how police officers treat vulnerable black service users when they are taken into custody.

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all credits: Birmingham Mail
16th December 2009

An inquest jury into death of a Birmingham dad who died in police custody was today considering its verdict. The jury retired yesterday after hearing almost six weeks of evidence in the case of Michael Powell.

The 38-year-old died after collapsing in a police cell in September 2003. Police were called to the home of his mother in Lozells, after reports that he was causing a disturbance.

The inquest has heard how the father-of-three was hit by a police car and sprayed with CS gas spray before being restrained and put into a police van.

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