Thames Valley Police apologise to family of man who died in cell after taking heroin

• ITV Meridian's Mark McQuillan has been speaking to the sister of Leroy Junior Medford

Thames Valley Police has apologised to the family of a man who died in custody in Reading after taking heroin in his cell.

The force described Leroy Junior Medford's death as 'tragic and avoidable'.

The 43-year-old was arrested on suspicion of assault and possessing Class A drugs, and taken to a police station in Berkshire in 2017, but officers failed to find drugs he had hidden, or monitor him in the appropriate way.

He was then admitted to hospital because he was a diabetic but later taken back to the police station.

He died just a few hours later - his body found in his cell the following day.

In a letter to the family, the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Jason Hogg offered his 'sincere condolences' to Leroy's family, and apologised for 'that breach and the grief and distress that this has caused Junior’s children and siblings.'

Reacting to the apology, Junior's sister Marilyn Medford-Hawkins said: "On one side I thought does this mean anything because he's gone.

"Our father has lost his son, and I've lost a sibling, and his children have lose a father.

"But really it does mean a lot, in the fact that we felt something had gone wrong and this means that they realise that and had to say sorry.

"It's a declaration of accepting they've done something wrong."

The full apology from Deputy Chief Constable Jason Hogg said: "I am writing to you to offer my sincere condolences for the death of Leroy Junior Medford, at Loddon Valley Police Station on 2 April 2017.

"I acknowledge that Thames Valley Police breached the Article 2 ECHR rights of Junior and members of the Medford family, we apologise for that breach and the grief and distress that this has caused Junior’s children and siblings.

"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."

"Leroy should have been looked after. He walked into the police station - they arrested him, but I want to know why they didn't keep my brother alive.

"There were so many people involved with Junior's care at the time, so as a family you think what has happened."

In June 2019 an inquest into Leroy's death found that police should have been keeping him under constant watch but failed to do so.

Leroy's sister Marilyn led a long campaign, calling for justice for her brother.

"The campaign was the right thing to do - we weren't just trying to cause a stir.

"Some of the healing that could have been done hasn't been done as a family unit, and that was halted by the pandemic as we couldn't get together.

• Marilyn Medford-Hawkins describes how she felt over the failings by Thames Valley Police

In a statement sent to ITV Meridian Thames Valley Police’s Deputy Chief Constable Jason Hogg, said: “We continue to offer our deepest sympathies to the family of Mr Medford who died in tragic circumstances at Loddon Valley Police Station on 2 April 2017.

“Mr Medford died after he swallowed a drugs package containing heroin that he had secreted about his person prior to his arrest. The officers charged with undertaking constant observations on Mr Medford failed adequately to do so.

“At an inquest in 2019, the Coroner expressed concerns that there was insufficient awareness of the requirement that in these circumstances an officer should remain in the cell with the detained person.

“The Coroner subsequently confirmed in her ruling that additional training and awareness had taken place since Mr Medford’s death and prior to the Inquest. The Coroner also expressed her concerns more generally regarding training of police officers, which have also been addressed.

“Thames Valley Police will always seek to learn from serious incidents and a full review of our policy was undertaken with changes made to how officers are briefed on observing detainees and the procedure to take if someone is believed to have drugs on them.

“We recently contacted Mr Medford’s family to acknowledge that Thames Valley Police breached Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in relation to Mr Medford and members of his family. While doing so we have also extended our sincere condolences and acknowledged the grief and distress suffered by Mr Medford’s family in the five years since his tragic death.”