Thames Valley police have apologised to the family of a 43-year-old man who died in custody after ingesting heroin in his cell more than five years ago, saying his death was “tragic and avoidable”.
Leroy Junior Medford – known to family and friends as Junior – died on 2 April 2017 at Loddon Valley police station in Reading, more than 15 hours after being arrested on suspicion of assault.
Thames Valley police have admitted breaching article 2 of the European convention on human rights, the right to life, by failing to take reasonable steps to try to prevent Medford’s death when there was a real and immediate risk to his life.
In a letter dated May 2022 and seen by the Guardian, the force’s deputy chief constable, Jason Hogg, apologised to the Medford family “for that breach and the grief and distress that this has caused Junior’s children and siblings”.
He continued: “The officers charged with undertaking constant observations on Junior failed to adequately carry out those observations. This reflected a failure to comply with our drugs standard operating procedure and a lack of awareness of some important details of that procedure.
“This failure provided an opportunity for Junior to ingest the drugs that he had concealed on his person, which subsequently leaked, causing his death.
“The belief by the custody sergeant that the observations had been undertaken correctly led to the misinformed decision to discount the possibility of swallowing drugs, which meant that no further medical investigation was considered.
“Junior’s death was tragic and avoidable. While we appreciate that no words will heal the pain of Junior’s death, we hope that this letter of apology may offer you a measure of comfort.”
The jury on the inquest into Medford’s death concluded “a clear lack of awareness” of and failure to implement the Thames Valley police drugs standard operating procedure on the part of all officers who dealt with Medford contributed to his death.
The failure by police officers to adequately carry out constant observations, providing an opportunity for Medford to ingest drugs suspected to be in his possession, was described as the main contributory factor leading to his death.
The coroner, Heidi Connor, wrote to police chiefs and leaders to raise systemic issues highlighted by the case, specifically with regard to how training is disseminated, and called for a national review on how training is given to police officers.
