Police rapped over treatment of injured prisoner

An Independent inquiry has concluded that "serious errors" were made by police officers when dealing with a Rotherham man who had sustained a serious head injury.

Dean Hutton (22) sustained a serious head injury when he was attacked with a scaffolding pole in an incident in on Mount Pleasant Road in Rotherham in August 2009.

Two brothers, Brett and James Garbutt, were subsequently convicted on grievous bodily harm charges and imprisoned.

After the incident Mr Hutton, who refused to attend hospital, was arrested in relation to a failure to attend court and taken into custody at Main Street Police Station in Rotherham.

About 11 hours later he was taken from custody to hospital after his health deteriorated. After a referral by South Yorkshire Police, the IPCC independently investigated Mr Hutton's time in custody to determine whether he received the appropriate treatment.

The IPCC investigation concluded that the failure to record the details of the head injury when Mr Hutton entered custody meant opportunities were missed to recognise the seriousness of his injuries earlier.

The IPCC made five recommendations in relation to their findings, three at a local level and two nationally.

The three local recommendations, which have all been implemented by South Yorkshire Police, include extra training for custody staff, that custody sergeants should check personally on each prisoner’s condition and that risk assessments are carried out on anyone detained under a warrant.

The two national recommendations are that the handover between custody staff should be formal, structured and documented and that where more than one custody sergeant is on duty there is a documented agreement about their respective roles and responsibilities.