original source: The Guardian
3rd December 2010

A total of 333 people have died in or following police custody over the past 11 years, but no officer has ever been successfully prosecuted, according to a watchdog’s report. Prosecutions were recommended against 13 officers based on “relatively strong evidence of misconduct or neglect”, but none resulted in a guilty verdict.

Calling for further research, the Independent Police Complaints Commission said juries were unwilling to convict police officers. Len Jackson, IPCC interim chair, said: “It is clear to us there is some real difficulty in this area.” The IPCC had a responsibility to investigate and present a file to the CPS “if we feel there are any matters potentially of a criminal nature”, he said.

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