The Mikey Powell Inquest is reaching it’s end

The inquest into the death of Mikey, having run for close to six weeks, will be drawing to a close shortly.

The verdict of the jury was expected by 16th December however there has been heated debate on the directions given by the coroner, and the jury are still considering their verdict at the time of writing (18th December 2009).

A joint Press Release with the charity INQUEST will be released shortly after the jury’s verdict is announced.

The family would like to take this opportunity to thank the organisations, families and friends that have attended the inquest and supported them throughout this traumatic and difficult period.

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from Birmingham Post
15th December 2009

A Birmingham man who died in police custody should not have been taken to a police station in a van, police conceded before an inquest jury.

Father-of-three Michael Powell was restrained by several officers after smashing windows at his mother’s home in Wilton Street, Lozells, and attacking a police car. He was conscious at the time he was bundled into a police van and taken to the cells at Thornhill Road police station. But on his arrival officers became increasingly concerned that he had no pulse, had saliva foaming from his mouth and his body was limp.

He was rushed to the A&E department at City Hospital where, despite the best efforts of doctors, he was pronounced dead minutes after his arrival.

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from Birmingham Mail
11th December 2009

A dramatic emergency phone call of police requesting an ambulance for a 38-year-old Birmingham man who died after being arrested has been played to inquest jurors.

A female officer was heard to describe father-of-three Michael Powell in the recording as “unconscious” having earlier been “uncooperative” and “going mad”. He had been arrested by police in a violent struggle in which he was sprayed with CS gas outside his mother, Clarissa Powell’s home in Lozells, in September 2003.

Mr Powell was then taken to Thornhill Road Police Station, in Handsworth, where the officer calls for paramedics. Mr Powell, who police claimed to have believed could have been armed with a gun, died after being arrested.

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