Inquiry into custody death

An investigation has been launched following the death of a man just hours after he was arrested. Essex Police detained the 55-year-old on November 19 on suspicion of drug offences and took him to Grays police station. The man soon fell ill and was taken to Basildon Hospital, where he later died. The force referred the incident to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which has now obtained early accounts from the officers involved and has taken CCTV footage from the custody suite. Investigators also attended a post-mortem but the man’s cause of death has still not been established. IPCC Operations Manager Colin Dewar said: “This is a serious incident in which a man has sadly died and it is right that the IPCC investigate to determine what happened. “We have met the man’s family and my thoughts are with them at this difficult time. We will be updating them and HM Coroner throughout our investigation.”