POLICE WARNED OVER DEATHS IN CUSTODY

A government minister bluntly told the police yesterday that they had to
give relatives of people who die in custody more information or face
accusations of "cover-ups".

The Home Office Minister, Alun Michael, told the first national conference
on deaths in police custody that senior officers must no longer hide behind
the excuse that disclosure of witness statements in advance of an inquest
might prejudice criminal or disciplinary proceedings.

His warning came as provisional figures published yesterday showed that 68
people died in police custody in the year to April 1998 - a record number.

The Police Complaints Authority conference also heard a plea from Brenda
Weinberg, the sister of Brian Douglas, one of seven black men to have died
in controversial circumstances linked to the actions of police officers.

She told the 350-strong audience, including officers from nearly every
force in England and Wales, that the universal experience of families after
a death in custody was that official investigations were conducted for the
convenience of the authorities and failed to reveal the circumstances.

"We feel alienated by the process and in many instances consider that the
police investigation is implicated in the injustice we have suffered. The
persistent failure of the Crown Prosecution Service, aided by the Police
Complaints Authority or the police force itself, to bring any charges, or
even dismissal, following a death in custody appears to confirm that truth
and justice are entirely separate when a black person is killed," said Mrs
Weinberg on behalf of the recently formed United Families and Friends
Campaign.

The conference, at Church House, London, was accompanied by protests
outside from demonstrators angry at being denied entry. The protest only
subsided after Myrna Simpson, the mother of Joy Gardner, who suffocated
after being bound and gagged during a deportation, was allowed in.

Mr Michael said there had been 16 deaths in the past seven years where
police actions appeared to have been directly linked to the death. Seven
were black and nine were white. He said that the law established that
internal witness statements and police reports could not be disclosed to
bereaved relatives without the consent of the police.

"The family can be left feeling that information has been kept hidden from
them," he said. "We recognise police concerns, but believe they are
misplaced. In some cases, advanced disclosure would be inappropriate
because it might prejudice criminal or disciplinary proceedings. But this
will be the exception, not the rule. It must not be used as an excuse to
hide behind. The police should agree to disclosure in all but the most
exceptional cases."

Helen Shaw of Inquest, the group that represents bereaved families, said Mr
Michael's action was encouraging as it has been the policy of the
Metropolitan police not to disclose any such documents before inquests. "We
want the witness statements so that we know what happened at the time."