Heroin Addict Allegedly Dumped by Cops, Freezes to Death
2005-04-08 >> news category >> general
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Three officers deny manslaughter as court hears that addict mother was dumped over force boundary.
A HEROIN addict died of hypothermia in a field after police dropped her in another force’s area to “get her off their patch”, a jury was told yesterday.
Michelle Wood, 25, a mother of three, was found dead in a field by a pigeon shooter a month after two officers left her at the boundary of the Lincolnshire and Humberside Police forces five miles from her home.
Her body was found on rural land near New Waltham, northeast Lincolnshire, in February 2003.
Hull Crown Court was told that Miss Wood, from Grimsby, had been driven to a point on the A16 by Lincolnshire police constables Andrew Wood and Ian Clark and left outside a motor dealership.
She had been arrested on suspicion of attempted burglary in Louth and after officers took her to Skegness Police Station a decision was taken to release her without charge.
James Goss, QC, for the prosecution, said that the custody officer at Skegness Police Station, Sergeant Andrew Hickinbottom, had ordered PCs Wood and Clark to drive Miss Wood to the force boundary.
Mr Goss said: “She had been behaving irrationally and was assessed as being a heroin addict in a very poor mental condition.
“Physically she was thin and gaunt. Her clothing was wet. The custody record revealed she had no money nor did she have a mobile phone.
“It was early January, the weather was cold. She could not simply be turned out of the police station in those circumstances on to the streets.
“Sgt Hickinbottom took the decision that she should be taken towards her home in Grimsby, not right to it.
“Rather, she should be dropped off that night at the boundary between the Lincolnshire Police force and the Humberside Police force.
“No doubt some of the thinking behind that decision was that she would then ‘be off his force’s patch’ and no longer the Lincolnshire force’s responsibility.
“So he instructed PCs Wood and Clark to drive Michelle to the force boundary and drop her off. They did as they were told.”
Mr Hickinbottom, 40, Mr Wood, 44, and Mr Clark, 43, a former Royal Marine, have more than 50 years’ police service between them and each deny one charge of manslaughter by gross negligence.
Mr Goss told the jury that all three officers had breached their duty of care towards Miss Wood given “their respective knowledge of her physical and mental condition, personal circumstances and the prevailing weather conditions”.
He continued: “By their actions they removed Michelle from a place of safety in custody and placed her in danger, leaving her on her own, over five miles from home, on a cold wet night without money or means of communication, in wet clothing, unrefreshed, as far as they were aware, and behaving in a way that had demonstrated irrationality and unreliability, whether by reason of drugs or mental condition or both.
“Had she not been dropped off where she was and in the condition in which she was, then there is no reason for her to have died. Her death from hypothermia was, therefore, we allege, substantially contributed to by the grossly negligent actions of all three officers.”
Mr Goss warned the jury not to be judgmental of Miss Wood’s heroin addiction, which she funded through theft, he said.
On the day of her arrest, on January 8, 2003, she had set out on a “shoplifting expedition” to Louth from her home in Grimsby with her sister Caroline, brother Terry and another man, Dean Pryme.
In Louth, he said, Miss Wood was seen to be acting very strangely, hallucinating and rambling in her speech, before her sister was arrested and taken to Skegness Police Station. Miss Wood was later arrested herself after a resident spotted her trying to open doors.
The resident told police Miss Wood said to her “an aeroplane had dropped her off and she had come to get clothes”. The jury was told that the written custody record showed she suffered from hepatitis B, had taken heroin that morning and was prescribed temazepam and diazepam. Next to a box asking about mental health problems were the words “Oh yes”.
Mr Goss said that Miss Wood’s body was found about 200 yards from where she had been dropped off.
She was wearing an Adidas top with a sweatshirt underneath plus a short sleeved shirt and a T-shirt. She was not wearing socks or shoes.
A post-mortem examination concluded that Miss Wood, who weighed less than 7½ stone (48kg), died of hypothermia.
The case continues.
Damn this is some fucked up shit. FUCK THE POLICE!
2005-04-08 >> news category >> general
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Three officers deny manslaughter as court hears that addict mother was dumped over force boundary.
A HEROIN addict died of hypothermia in a field after police dropped her in another force’s area to “get her off their patch”, a jury was told yesterday.
Michelle Wood, 25, a mother of three, was found dead in a field by a pigeon shooter a month after two officers left her at the boundary of the Lincolnshire and Humberside Police forces five miles from her home.
Her body was found on rural land near New Waltham, northeast Lincolnshire, in February 2003.
Hull Crown Court was told that Miss Wood, from Grimsby, had been driven to a point on the A16 by Lincolnshire police constables Andrew Wood and Ian Clark and left outside a motor dealership.
She had been arrested on suspicion of attempted burglary in Louth and after officers took her to Skegness Police Station a decision was taken to release her without charge.
James Goss, QC, for the prosecution, said that the custody officer at Skegness Police Station, Sergeant Andrew Hickinbottom, had ordered PCs Wood and Clark to drive Miss Wood to the force boundary.
Mr Goss said: “She had been behaving irrationally and was assessed as being a heroin addict in a very poor mental condition.
“Physically she was thin and gaunt. Her clothing was wet. The custody record revealed she had no money nor did she have a mobile phone.
“It was early January, the weather was cold. She could not simply be turned out of the police station in those circumstances on to the streets.
“Sgt Hickinbottom took the decision that she should be taken towards her home in Grimsby, not right to it.
“Rather, she should be dropped off that night at the boundary between the Lincolnshire Police force and the Humberside Police force.
“No doubt some of the thinking behind that decision was that she would then ‘be off his force’s patch’ and no longer the Lincolnshire force’s responsibility.
“So he instructed PCs Wood and Clark to drive Michelle to the force boundary and drop her off. They did as they were told.”
Mr Hickinbottom, 40, Mr Wood, 44, and Mr Clark, 43, a former Royal Marine, have more than 50 years’ police service between them and each deny one charge of manslaughter by gross negligence.
Mr Goss told the jury that all three officers had breached their duty of care towards Miss Wood given “their respective knowledge of her physical and mental condition, personal circumstances and the prevailing weather conditions”.
He continued: “By their actions they removed Michelle from a place of safety in custody and placed her in danger, leaving her on her own, over five miles from home, on a cold wet night without money or means of communication, in wet clothing, unrefreshed, as far as they were aware, and behaving in a way that had demonstrated irrationality and unreliability, whether by reason of drugs or mental condition or both.
“Had she not been dropped off where she was and in the condition in which she was, then there is no reason for her to have died. Her death from hypothermia was, therefore, we allege, substantially contributed to by the grossly negligent actions of all three officers.”
Mr Goss warned the jury not to be judgmental of Miss Wood’s heroin addiction, which she funded through theft, he said.
On the day of her arrest, on January 8, 2003, she had set out on a “shoplifting expedition” to Louth from her home in Grimsby with her sister Caroline, brother Terry and another man, Dean Pryme.
In Louth, he said, Miss Wood was seen to be acting very strangely, hallucinating and rambling in her speech, before her sister was arrested and taken to Skegness Police Station. Miss Wood was later arrested herself after a resident spotted her trying to open doors.
The resident told police Miss Wood said to her “an aeroplane had dropped her off and she had come to get clothes”. The jury was told that the written custody record showed she suffered from hepatitis B, had taken heroin that morning and was prescribed temazepam and diazepam. Next to a box asking about mental health problems were the words “Oh yes”.
Mr Goss said that Miss Wood’s body was found about 200 yards from where she had been dropped off.
She was wearing an Adidas top with a sweatshirt underneath plus a short sleeved shirt and a T-shirt. She was not wearing socks or shoes.
A post-mortem examination concluded that Miss Wood, who weighed less than 7½ stone (48kg), died of hypothermia.
The case continues.
Damn this is some fucked up shit. FUCK THE POLICE!
