The Police Ombudsman has found that police acted in a caring way towards a man who died within hours of being released from police custody in April 2005.

The 37-year-old had been arrested on suspicion of disorderly behaviour shortly after midnight on 23 April 2005. He was taken to a police station and placed in overnight custody (we have not identified the police station in this account to avoid any further distress to friends and relatives of the deceased). 

He was released from custody at around 6.40am and at his request police took him to a train station where he was left at 7.20am.

At 9.30am the man called police from the railway station and asked if they would take him to a relative's house. He said he needed to pick up some property but his relative had insisted that police should accompany him as he was the subject of a non-molestation order against her. Police went to the train station but could find no sign of him either there or in the vicinity.

There was no further contact with the police until 2.20pm when officers responded to reports that a man had collapsed and died at an area frequented by alcoholics. An ambulance crew was already there examining the man. There were no signs of life and a doctor pronounced the man dead at 2.40pm.

A subsequent post mortem revealed that the man had died from a combination of acute alcohol intoxication and heart disease. His blood alcohol level was over six times the legal limit for driving. There was no evidence of any other injury.

Police Ombudsman investigators received statements from each of the officers who had had dealings with the deceased in the hours leading up to his death. They also spoke to a series of civilian and medical witnesses, and reviewed CCTV footage relating to the events leading up to his death.

The officer who had been in charge of the police custody suite said that, given the man's intoxicated state, he had directed that officers should check on his condition every half hour while he was in custody. The custody record indicated that police checked on him 15 times that evening.

After examining the evidence of the case the Police Ombudsman, Mrs Nuala O'Loan, concluded that the officers who had dealt with the man had acted entirely properly, and indeed with "an element of care and consideration for him."

No disciplinary or criminal action was recommended against any of the officers involved.