All statistics of deaths in custody.
The data below represents the number of unlawful killing verdicts and manslaughter or other serious prosecutions of state agents in cases of deaths in prison or in police custody or pursuits since 1990 that INQUEST is aware of. The data is shown by the year the verdict was returned at an inquest or trial. Where no year is shown there were no unlawful killing verdicts returned. *
| 2011 | |||||
| Name | Type | Prosecution | Inquest | Verdict | Ethnicity |
| Ian Tomlinson | Police custody or following contact with police | Yes – officer was tried and acquitted of manslaughter in July 2012. | Yes | Unlawful killing | UK White |
| 2006 | |||||
| Name | Type | Prosecution | Inquest | Verdict | Ethnicity |
| Mikey Powell | Police custody or following contact with police | Yes – ten officers tried for various offences – charges dropped for four officers at trial in June 2006, remainder acquitted August 2006 | Yes | Critical narrative | UK Black |
| Robin Goodenough | Police custody or following contact with police | Yes – three officers tried for manslaughter in 2005 – jury failed to reach verdict; retried for assault in 2006- acquitted | No | N/A | UK White |
| 2004 | |||||
| Name | Type | Prosecution | Inquest | Verdict | Ethnicity |
| Harry Stanley | Police Shooting | No | Yes | Unlawful killing; overturned at Judicial Review, May 2005 | UK White |
| 2003 | |||||
| Name | Type | Prosecution | Inquest | Verdict | Ethnicity |
| Roger Sylvester | Police custody or following contact with police | No | Yes | Unlawful killing; quashed on a technicality | UK Black |
| 2002 | |||||
| Name | Type | Prosecution | Inquest | Verdict | Ethnicity |
| Christopher Alder | Police custody or following contact with police | 5 officers charged with manslaughter – trial collapsed 2002 | Yes | Unlawful killing | Black |
| 2001 | |||||
| Name | Type | Prosecution | Inquest | Verdict | Ethnicity |
| James Ashley | Police Shooting | Yes – trial halted 2001 | No | N/A | UK White |
| 1998 | |||||
| Name | Type | Prosecution | Inquest | Verdict | Ethnicity |
| Alton Manning | Prison | No | yes | Unlawful killing | Black |
| 1997 | |||||
| Name | Type | Prosecution | Inquest | Verdict | Ethnicity |
| Ibrahima Sey | Police custody or following contact with police | No | Yes | Unlawful killing | Black |
| David Ewin | Police Shooting | Yes– acquitted at retrial 1997 | No | N/A | UK White |
| 1996 | |||||
| Name | Type | Prosecution | Inquest | Verdict | Ethnicity |
| Shiji Lapite | Police custody or following contact with police | No | Yes | Unlawful killing | Black |
| 1995 | |||||
| Name | Type | Prosecution | Inquest | Verdict | Ethnicity |
| Richard O’Brien | Police custody or following contact with police | Yes – acquitted at trial 1999 | Yes | Unlawful killing | Irish White |
| Joy Gardner | Police / Immigration | Yes – acquitted 1995 | No | N/A | Black |
| 1993 | |||||
| Name | Type | Prosecution | Inquest | Verdict | Ethnicity |
| Leon Patterson | Police custody or following contact with police | No | Yes | a) Unlawful killing quashed b) new inquest 1996: “misadventure contributed to by neglect” |
Black |
| Omasase Lumumba | Prison | No | Yes | Unlawful killing | Black |
| 1991 | |||||
| Name | Type | Prosecution | Inquest | Verdict | Ethnicity |
| Oliver Pryce | Police custody or following contact with police | No | Yes | Unlawful killing | Black |
| Source: INQUEST casework and monitoring | |||||
* There has been a relatively recent increase in police officers being charged with lesser offences following deaths in police custody. When more reliable information is available we will update the website.
There were also verdicts of unlawful killing returned at the inquest in 2003 into the deaths of two teenagers who died following a police pursuit in the Mersey Tunnel; these two verdicts are included in the graph at the top of this page.
