29th April 2016

 

Before: Senior Coroner Tom Osbourne.
At: 10am, The Court House, Woburn Street, Ampthill, Bedfordshire, MK45 2HX from the 3rd of May
(The inquest is expected to run until 10 May 2016).

On 13 June 2015, 25-year-old Istiak Yusuf was arrested by Bedfordshire police officers and taken to Luton Police station.  He was compliant throughout his arrest and transfer to the custody suite. 

Mr Yusuf was searched and placed in a CCTV monitored cell under 30 minute observations after informing officers that he had consumed alcohol the night before. He was subsequently observed to be unconscious in his cell. Emergency first aid was administered by officers and paramedics but he died at the scene.

Syeda Yusuf, Istiak’s mother said:
“Istiak’s death has left us heart broken. We would not wish for anyone to go through what we are going through having lost our son and brother.  We just want to know what happened to Istiak and how he came to die in the care of the police”.

Deborah Coles, Director of INQUEST said:
“Having made a decision that Mr Yusuf was in need of regular observations and placed in a CCTV monitored cell for his protection there now needs to be a thorough examination of the adequacy of those checks and whether this tragic death could have been avoided”.

 

INQUEST has been working with the family of Mr Istiak Yusuf since June 2015.  The family is represented by INQUEST Lawyers Group members Jocelyn Cockburn and Claire Brigham from Hodge Jones and Allen solicitors and barrister Fiona Murphy of Doughty Street Chambers. 

Ends