Mentally Ill Kept In Police Cells.

A mentally ill man was put into police custody for more than 3 days without appropriate treatment for his illness, which amounted to degrading treatment in custody. The applicant was arrested on December 6th 2004 in the early morning because he was highly agitated, was continuously sounding the horn of his car and they later found his aunt seriously injured as a result of his actions. Following his arrest, a psychiatric expert found that the suspect was mentally ill after assessment and needed to be detained at a hospital in the interest of his and others' health. This assessment was confirmed by another specialist. Efforts were made to put the suspect into a clinic with a medium secure unit. However, because the suspect might be charged with an offence they kept him in custody and after a consultant forensic psychiatrist at the clinic said that the clinic's involvement was not immediately necessary. The suspect stayed in custody for more than 3 days, During this time he was unstable, shouting, taking off all his clothes, drinking from the toilet, banging his head against the walls and covering himself in food and faeces. After this period of detention, there was not sufficient evidence to charge him and he was taken in handcuffs to the clinic where he received treatment. In mid 2006, the accused suspect logged claims against the NHS about his delay before getting treatment. His claims were rejected by the Birmingham County Court in late 2007. The European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, in determining that the treatment of this applicant while in police custody in Birmingham, had reached the threshold of degrading treatment in violation of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court also held, by 6 votes to 1 that there had been no violation of article 13 of the Convention, which guaranteed an effective remedy. The mentally ill man's detention (which was more than 3 days in police custody), without appropriate assistance, had diminished his human dignity and amounted to degrading treatment. HS&Co have blogged in the past about the lack of care for mentally fragile suspects in police custody. We have dealt with many a client who appears 'normal' but to our knowledge, has difficulties. The mere allocating of an 'Appropriate Adult' does little in our experience to assist but to appear to be fair to the accused and to comply with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. We have had clients with conditions on the Autism range who are poorly catered for by the police when detained. One young client with severe Aspergers is often arrested and his behaviour misunderstood. Another client had serious and permanent brain injuries and yet is ostensibly normal. In these cases we often have an uphill struggle to attempt to obtain justice. In Your Defence, HS&Co Solicitors.