Sean Rigg custody death: Officer cleared of lying at inquest

An officer who admitted he “made a mistake” over claims he had checked on a musician in police custody has been cleared of lying at the inquest into the death of schizophrenia sufferer Sean Rigg.

Custody Sergeant Paul White, 53, was found not guilty of one count of perjury after being accused of falsely giving evidence that he had checked on the 40-year-old, who died a heart attack after being restrained outside Brixton police station in 2008.

A jury at Southwark Crown Court returned the unanimous verdict after two hours of deliberations on Tuesday (November 8).

The court heard after Mr Rigg’s arrest in Balham for attacking passers-by and officers it was decided to keep him in the back of a police van until the custody area had been cleared – before he was taken inside the south London station where he fell ill and collapsed.

The 2012 inquest jury found that “suitable” force more than minimally contributed to his death in that Mr Rigg was held down in the prone position for eight minutes and placed in a V-shape face down in the well of a police van.

Sgt White told the Independent Police Complaints Commission in March 2009 that he had left the south London custody suite to check on Mr Rigg in the police van.

In 2012 he repeated the claims to an inquest at Southwark Coroner`s Court, stating he had assessed Mr Rigg`s health between 7.53pm and 8.03pm.

However CCTV footage showed he had not gone to the van and Sgt White conceded he could not have visited it when he said he had.

The Metropolitan Police Service officer said he “made a mistake” and was “completely shell-shocked” when he saw the footage.

“I just apologised because I knew I was wrong,” he told Southwark Crown Court as he gave evidence during the trial.

Mr Rigg had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia for many years, and in the weeks leading up to his death had not been taking his prescribed medication, the court heard.

Police were called after staff in his supported accommodation became concerned by his behaviour.

He was seen on August 21 bare-chested, wearing only white trousers and trainers, and doing karate kicks on the pavement. He was arrested and arrived at the police station in the back of the van at 7.53pm.

He was held in the police van for ten minutes before being escorted to a caged area, where he sat on the floor for a short while before suddenly standing up.

The court heard that he then fell to the ground like “a dead weight”.

A force medical examiner checked on him and said his breathing was fine but that an ambulance should be called.

Mr Rigg was checked again at 8.24pm after his breathing slowed, but the doctor noted that his heart had stopped. He was later pronounced dead in hospital.

A post-mortem examination ruled out that Mr Rigg`s death was caused by the way he was held by police.

But it concluded that it was “possible to speculate” that the circumstances were likely to have been physiologically stressful to him.

Following the perjury trial verdict, a woman sitting in the public gallery, who said Mr Rigg was her brother, shouted: “This is not over, trust me. This is not over, you must know that.”

She added: “Remember that and I`ll see you in court.”