Kingsley Burrell Inquest Verdict: Beaten, Battered, and Neglected

The horrific death of Birmingham black man and father of two, 29 year old Kingsley Burrell at the hands of the West Midlands Police Service and Birmingham NHS workers, provides another tragic commentary on the reality of institutionalised racism within the criminal justice and mental health systems.

The Inquest held in Birmingham and heard over the last seven weeks, broke the heart of all who had this misfortune to be forced to hear it.

The Jury found Kingsley's death was avoidable and that he died from neglect from those who had a duty of care to protect him. He was killed by the brutal violence of the police and lack of care of those NHS staff into whose care, he was entrusted.

Racism is not only alive and well in Britain but under the magnifying lens of austerity is positively thriving. This is evidenced by the growing level of racial inequalities, between British black and white citizens, as demonstrated by recent research by the race equality research charity, the Runnymede Trust.

Kingsley experienced horrific police brutality. It's a tale we've heard time and time again. It is the lived black experience, a the story of a black man who calls for the police for help and ends up dead on a cold mortuary slab. It's a story as tragic and as old as time itself.

The Burrell family has been to hell and back since his death in 2011. The effect of such tragedy on the families is barely recognised. Families find themselves with little resources for high flying lawyers, whilst the state, the police and the NHS workers are represented by the best legal minds money can buy.

When it comes to our Inquest system the odds are stacked against the victims' families. The whole system is rotten and needs radical overall, something that campaigning groups like Inquest have called for the last 20 odd years.

Black Activists Against The Cuts (BARAC) regional co-ordinator Maxi Hayles is the Chair of the Kingsley Burrell justice campaign and has supported the family throughout the last four years. His work on this case has been exceptional and we salute him.

Maxi stated:

"As the Chair of the Justice For Kingsley Burrell Campaign I would like to thank everyone who has supported the campaign so far.

Unfortunately we did not get an Unlawful Killing verdict but we did get a damming narrative verdict of Neglect. As a result the family have the opportunity to hold those accountable to account.

Witness after witness gave telling account of the brutal treatment endure by Kingsley restrained and beaten over the course of two and half hours.

We are constantly told that ' lessons are being learned'. The black community is totally fed up with hearing this rubbish - its almost like we are an experimental project!

The Black Mans Disease 'Positional Asphyxia'

Kingsley is reported to have died from cardiac arrest caused by 'positional asphyxia' otherwise known on the road as the black man's disease. This is a condition that seems to only exclusively affect black men whenever they come into violent contact with British police.

What this piece of pseudo racist scientific garbage means in reality is something else. Much like the term 'colateral damage' in was or ' friendly fire' these words bears only a functional relationship with the facts. Strip away the sanitised language and what you're left with is a black man who is handcuffed, restrained. forced face down on the floor, with any number of six foot plus police officers kneeling on your head, your back, belly and legs.

The inquest heard that Kingsley remained in this prone restrained position for two and half hours in total. That amounts to 'cruel and unusual punishment' otherwise known as plain old - torture in my book.

Kingsley died on the 30th March 2011. He had rang the police whilst out shopping with his young son fearing he was being targeted by a local gang.

Kingsley Called for Help and Got Arrested

Once the West Midlands Police arrived, Kingsley found himself under arrest under the Mental Health Act, although he had no history of mental ill health. The police said he was 'acting strange' and so along with his 4 year old son, were taken in an ambulance to the local Oleaster Hospital.

Kingsley resisted being detained under the Mental Health Act and was forced along with his son to get into an ambulance accompanied by two police officers. He was placed in handcuffs behind his back. He had both leg straps and leg restraints. Here is man with his child calling for help now being manacled and chained like some sort of dangerous psychopath.

Battered While Restrained

Kingsley was taken to Mary Seacole Mental Health House. After leaving him at the unit, staff soon called the police, saying that they could not control Kingsley. Police then returned and with Kingsley sedated, he was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Once there he was placed in a secluded room, still restrained and now with a towel wrapped round his head. He was pronounced dead the following day.

What followed was a national outcry with public meetings and demonstrations taking place around the country. All expressed deep concern that yet another black man had died in custody under extremely suspicious circumstances.

The CPS Decides No Case to Answer: Business as Usual

In June 2014 investigations by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and a file submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service concluded that there was 'insufficient evidence' to prosecute four West Midlands officers and six NHS staff involved in handling Kingsley.

After four years of waiting, an intolerable period of time for the Burrell family, an Inquest finally took place and concluded on Friday 15th May 2015.

The verdict was a narrative verdict that identified critical failures of both the police and the NHS staff.

White Privilege Can't See Black Injustice

Kadisha Brown-Burrell, Kinsley sister a passionate advocate for justice gave evidence at the Inquest and immediately challenged the legitimacy of the jury. Kadisha expressed concern with the ethnic composition of the jury. She told senior coroner Louise Hunt:

The jury does not reflect the society we live in - it does not seem fair."

Burrell was referring to the fact that out of the 11 jurors, made up of seven white men and four women, just one woman is black. She was right; I believe that a multi-racial jury in cases involving racism are essential in aiding the search for the truth. The fact is that most white people have little understanding of the complexities of racism or the scale and depth of institutionalised racism in the Police service and NHS mental health service provision.

Kingsley Had No History of Mental Illness

Giving her evidence Kadisha told the jury Kingsley was "a calm and collected, outgoing and friendly person" with no history of mental illness.

She told the court that when the family visited her brother at the Mary Seacole unit where he had been sectioned, he was walking very stiffly and could not move his head, body and shoulders properly. He had deep cut cuff marks around his hands.

Kingsley Was Violently Restrained and Beaten

Kadisha told the court:

He had a big lump on his forehead and I said to Chantelle 'take pictures.' Kingsley could not move his shoulders or his hands. He was very upset and was asking why he had been put in the unit when he had simply called the police for help."

During the Inquest we heard that Kingsley's son was arrested along with Kingsley and in the ensuing struggle was thrown across an ambulance as police tried to separate them. Duty Inspector Neil Allen who is a Black officer took the decision to detain Kingsley Burrell under the Mental Health Act.

Inspector Allen, said he believed detaining the 29-year-old, from Hockley, was the "most appropriate" course of action. Following that decision he said he held onto Mr Burrell's arm so he would release his grip of his son.

He said the dad-of-three "tensed up" but he continued hanging onto his arm and there was a "brief struggle" between him, Mr Burrell and other officers.

He told the court:

It was a struggle where we lost balance and we had taken Mr Burrell to the floor. And during that period of the grip that we had, his child was released, but in the moment I believe his child was thrown across the ambulance."

Kingsley Burrell's son was treated for a graze on his nose before he left the ambulance. At the Inquest Inspector Allen was asked by the Coroner why he hadn't just asked Kingsley to let go of his son?
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He replied:

I accept that to communicate to everybody, in an ideal situation, that would have been done."

He added:

I didn't see any potential for this to escalate dramatically."

Another West Midland officer PC Paul Adey told the court he drew his 50,000-volt taser during the struggle with Mr Burrell when asked why he said "We are trained to notice non-verbal communications." He said he saw Mr Burrell tighten his grip on the chlid and raise his shoulders.

Chantelle Graham, who was Kingsley's partner and mother of Kingsley's son, told how her son had been "telling anyone who would listen, even people at school" about " a naughty black policeman hit daddy in the back of the ambulance."

Inexperienced Ambulance Crew, One of Whom Is An Ex-Police Officer

The Inquest also heard from the ambulance crew who picked up Kingsley from the Mary Seacole unit to transfer him to Queens Hospital A&E. Kingsley was restrained and sedated at the unit and was again battered by the police who admitted they had done so even though he was heavily restrained. He ended up with a nasty cut over his eye.

The ambulance crew were quite hopelessly inexperienced. Medical technician Stuart McDonald-Booth was not a trained paramedic and had been qualified for only 12 weeks. He had been however an ex Warrant Officer for West Midland Police. Ambulance technician David Purslow was just beginning 750 hours of practice in order to become qualified.

Both men struggled at times to remember details of events and gave different versions of what they had written in earlier statements given to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and the NHS.

McDonald-Booth was warned by the Coroner 'not to be argumentative' after he was challenged about his inconsistency. He had told the Court that he was not in the seclusion cubicle at Queens Hospital when Kingsley had his head stitched by a Doctor, contrary to his earlier statement where he stated that he had in fact been with Kingsley at the time.

Ms Hunt challenged him asking:

Why are you saying that you were not in the cubicle, when in an earlier statement you said you took an active role? You said you were holding Kingsley's hands and he kept digging his nails into you. You said he was saying: 'They're going to kill me.'"

Testimony of Ambulance Crew Member Riddled with Inconsistencies

McDonald-Booth's evidence was riddled with inconsistencies that were pointed out by the Coroner. For example he claimed he did not see that Kingsley head was wrapped in a blanket. Yet CCTV shows him standing by the ambulance trolley with Kingsley's head wrapped.

Neither ambulance worker could recall a police officer, travelling with them, reporting that Kingsley said he could not breathe in the ambulance on his way to the Oleaster Unit.

And earlier neither of them could recall Todd Nyamhunga, a deputy ward manager from Mary Seacole House, asking to travel with his patient Kingsley in the back of the ambulance when he was transferred to Queens Hospital.

Mr Purslow had wrapped a blanket round Kingsley head and could not adequately explain why.

When asked by the family's barrister if Kingsley was not in danger of suffocating, Mr Purslow said he checked him regularly, making sure there was no sign of difficulty.

He was then asked if "alarm bells" had sounded when Kingsley's respiratory rate fell from 14 to 12 as he was coming out of sedation.

She pressed him on his medical knowledge and asked if he knew the dangers of respiratory depression following medical sedation in the context of being in a position of restraint for two hours, to which he replied "yes".

When his pulse rate increased, did that not ring alarm bells?"

she asked. Purslow replied 'No'.

Kingsley had been sedated and yet endured a beating by the police, then a contingent of police officers sitting on his back, whilst a towel was wrapped around his head causing him to struggle to breathe, the sedation slowed down his heart rate and the weight of the officer did the rest. No doubt although it has not been reported, he must have said "I can't breathe" but with a towel wrapped round his head, being heard must have been impossible.

Given the lies and deceit, the Coroner advised that given no one could say accurately what particular incident or person's actions, caused Kingsley's death, no one can legally be charged with his murder.

Treated Worse Than a Dog

Kingsley was treated worse than an animal and was not accorded the dignity and respect of being treated with compassion.

How do the police get way with beating a man who is fully restrained? How does the ambulance crew, some of the nurses and doctors collude with police officers in an effort to cover up the abuse he faced?

I'll tell you how, how they've always done it. Collusion and an Inquest system that is not fit for purpose and finally all this set in the putrid environment of a toxic culture of institutional racism.

That's how and they do it and the really sad thing is, those who refuse to get active in the fight against police racism and racism in general are culpable and guilty of stunning complacency.

The really bitter, hard unpalatable truth is they keep getting away with it because we allow them to do so.

For more information contact:

Chair: Kingsley Burrell Justice Campaign
Maxi Hayles 07956 242554
Email: mhayles@btconnect.com

Lee Jasper