Information found on a public forum reveals (shockingly) why, there are no successful prosecutions and convictions of police officers for the unlawful killings of members of the public who die at the hands of the police
The reason there is a dearth of successful prosecutions is that the police have no duty of care, I have sat in court and listened to Barristers for the police quoting hours of case law examples of why the police have no statutory duty of care, it is a real eye opener and nothing to do with police corruption, that is quite another can of worms.
The case that they quote a lot is Hill , see here http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1987/12.html which lays down the core principle that a duty of care would lead to defensive and thus ineffective policing. this case is supported and reaffirmed by others such as smith http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2008/39.html where the house of lords ruled that the police had no common law duty of care to protect an individual.
This is the law as it stands and makes it almost impossible to even bring a case against the police, most being struck out early on as having no chance of a successful outcome.
Any that do proceed will be dragged through appeal after appeal and the case that you mention above of a mere four years is a relatively short one.
as for accountability in the force well it is a comforting thought but unfortunately far from reality.
The IPCC recorded 92 “Deaths during or following police contact” last year. Now I’m not suggesting that they were all the result of criminal behaviour … but … 92 (nearly 2 per week)!
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Whilst interesting, the case of Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire does not bear on the duty of care owed by the police to persons in custody. The House of Lords ruling bears directly on the duty of care owed by the police to the wider public. Miss Hill’s mother sought damages from the police for not exercising diligence in their investigation of the Yorkshire Ripper series of murders, her claim being based on the seemingly reasonable assumption that if they had done their job “properly” her daughter would not have been murdered. She lost her claim precisley because the police do not have a duty to protect the public from every forseeable consequence of their (the police) action or inactions.
Curiously, in the case of Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire reference is made to a case, Dorset Yacht Co. Ltd, v. Home Office in which it was admitted that (in this case prison officers but it was agreed the same principle applies) the officers did have a duty of care to the borstal boys in their charge but not to the owners of yachts moored nearby (the wider puublic). So when the boys escaped and damaged a yacht the officers were (or would have been) liable had the boys come to harm but were not liable for the damage to the yacht.
That the police have a duty of care to persons in their charge is not up for debate; see your own blog re: Pamela Somerville for instance and they even have a duty of care to persons they are chasing. The reason the police do not get prosecuted for assaults and deaths in custody is because the proper authority for investigating such cases is… the police. This has been reported several times and a brief summary of some higher profile reports can be found on the Wikipedia page for Oluwashijibomi Lapite.
KUTGW