The underlying facts

2. The Inquiry received body worn camera footage capturing a planned use of force involving D2416 on 11 April 2017.¹
3. The footage shows officers entering D2416’s cell at around 06:00, while D2416 was still in bed.² Detention Custody Manager (DCM) Shane Farrell, the manager in charge of the other G4S officers involved in the incident, told D2416 to get up and put his clothes on so that the escort staff could carry out the removal instructions. When D2416 responded “I won’t”, Mr Farrell stated: “Well, it is happening, I have got a team of officers and they will take you by force if necessary.” D2416 said quietly, while still lying in bed, “Yeah I’m not going”. Mr Farrell asked, “You’re not going?”, and D2416, as he began to sit up, responded, “Nope, why should I go?”. Mr Farrell then authorised the other officers to use force on him. The footage shows that there were 26 seconds between Mr Farrell starting the conversation with D2416 and authorising the use of force.
4. As soon as Mr Farrell authorised officers to use force on D2416, Detention Custody Officer (DCO) Ben Shadbolt rushed into the cell and pinned D2416 onto his bed with a shield. He was supported by DCO Neil Timms and DCO Ben Wright. DCO Mohammed Shaukat also entered the cell. All four officers were wearing full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The shield was removed after around seven seconds.
5. As the officers restrained D2416, Mr Farrell turned and informed someone in the corridor that D2416 was not wearing any clothes. D2416 said that he needed to see his solicitor. He repeated this multiple times, and also mentioned that he needed to use the toilet. The officers did not respond. D2416 was naked. When the officers brought D2416 to his feet, Mr Farrell asked them to get something to “cover his modesty”. Mr Farrell turned his camera to the wall, and explained that he had done so “to save the modesty of the detainee”.
6. The camera was turned away from the incident for 2 minutes 15 seconds. During this time, D2416 informed the officers that he needed to use the toilet and repeated that he needed to see his solicitor. One of the officers commented that he “should have sorted out the solicitor before now”, and D2416 confirmed, “I have an appointment on the 19th”. D2416 also complained that he had not received any paperwork for the removal. The officers did not respond to D2416 and one officer spoke over him to give instructions to the other officers regarding how to execute the restraint. The officers asked D2416 to stand up and to lift or raise his head. They then confirmed that handcuffs had been applied and that a towel had been placed around D2416’s waist, so Mr Farrell angled the camera back towards D2416.
7. The officers walked D2416 out of the cell into the corridor. A female member of Healthcare staff was stationed outside D2416’s cell. Officers asked D2416 to raise his head and said that he was not complying. D2416 gently said, “but you are not complying sir”. D2416 complained that the officers were hurting his wrists. At that moment, Mr Farrell turned his camera away and Mr Shadbolt can be heard repeatedly asking D2416 whether he wanted to put boxer shorts on. The question was asked four times within eight seconds. D2416 calmly replied, “sir, you are not listening to me”, and repeated that the officers were hurting his wrists. He said, “you are breaking my wrists”. Mr Farrell explained that he had angled the body worn camera away from D2416 because the towel had dropped from around D2416’s waist. The camera returned to D2416 once he was covered again. This happened intermittently and the camera was therefore angled away from D2416 for much of the incident. D2416 being uncovered also meant that the female member of Healthcare was not able to watch large portions of the incident.
8. The footage shows that D2416 walked compliantly along the corridor surrounded by four officers, two on either side holding his arms, one in front and one following behind.

Figure 8: D2416 walking compliantly with Mr Timms and Mr Shadbolt controlling his arms, and Mr Wright walking ahead

9. As the towel fell again, Mr Wright moved towards D2416 who said, “please do not fucking touch me”. The officers placed the towel back around D2416’s waist, and he continued to walk through the wing. D2416 continued to complain that the officers were hurting his wrists and demanded that they let go; however, he did not physically resist the restraint. He was taken through a door leading to a stairwell and the officers, still surrounding D2416, discussed how to escort him down the stairs.
10. Mr Farrell instructed Mr Wright to take control of D2416’s head “for his safety”, but D2416 responded that he could “fucking walk” and protested at the restraint being carried out while he was naked. Mr Farrell commented that D2416 had a towel around him to protect his “modesty”, and an officer explained to D2416 the procedure for moving him down the stairs while he was under restraint. D2416 appeared to confirm that he understood, and moved into position.
11. As the officers started to move D2416 down the stairs, the towel dropped to the floor again. Mr Farrell turned the camera away from D2416 and told the officers to take control of D2416’s head “because he’s not being compliant”.
12. The camera remained directed away from D2416 for almost nine minutes while the restraint continued, which means that it is not possible to see when restraint techniques were applied or what those techniques were. However, as the group moved down the stairs the officers can be heard directing D2416 to “get your feet off” and “put your head down”. They can also be heard saying to each other, “if he does it again, we go down”, and “lift his legs, grab his legs”. D2416 can be heard asking, “Are you trying to break my fucking body?”, and saying, “would you please let go of my wrists”.
13. After approximately 2 minutes 30 seconds, the officers and D2416 appeared to reach the foot of the stairs, as they can be heard speaking to the escort staff. One member of the escort staff asked if the officers could get some clothes for D2416, after which Mr Farrell requested a clothing pack (a pack of clothing provided to detained people who arrive at Brook House without any clothing of their own) over his radio. By this time, D2416 had been naked for approximately nine minutes. As Mr Farrell made this request, D2416 can be heard speaking to the escort staff. He said, “please let go of my wrists, you are breaking them”, and again mentioned that he was waiting for an appointment with his solicitor. D2416 did not respond to questions regarding whether he wanted to get dressed. One officer appeared to offer to remove the handcuffs, although this is not clear. When D2416 asked the officers a second time to let go of his wrists, Mr Farrell responded, “that’s not going to happen because you’re currently under restraint … We’re keeping hold of you for your own protection.” D2416 said, “sir, I’m not doing anything, the people here are trying to break my wrists”. Mr Farrell responded, “I’m sure they’re not, they’re there to support you.” One officer quietly laughed, which agitated D2416. Mr Farrell denied that it was him, and an officer said, “the quickest way to get out of the handcuffs is to put some clothes on compliantly”.
14. The conversation continued for a further six minutes, during which time D2416 repeated that the officers were trying to break his wrists when he had not acted or spoken violently towards them. He also complained that during his time in Brook House he had been poisoned by other detained people repeatedly going into his cell and smoking drugs, and that he was not given the opportunity to use a toilet before he was taken from his cell. Mr Farrell requested an update on the clothing, and requested a bedsheet in case D2416 refused the clothing pack.
15. Approximately 18 minutes after the officers first arrived at D2416’s cell, clothing and a bedsheet were handed to Mr Farrell for D2416 to put on. Mr Farrell then passed these to the staff directly next to D2416 at the bottom of the stairwell. The footage ends with D2416 still speaking to escort officers at the foot of the stairs.
16. The Inquiry did not receive a witness statement from D2416, and it does not appear that he complained about this treatment at the time.
17. In his Use of Force report, Mr Timms wrote that D2416 became agitated and resistant as the officers walked with him towards the stairs. He wrote that the group proceeded down the stairs but that D2416 started to put his foot on the stair railings and become more non-compliant. He wrote that Mr Wright took control of D2416’s head so that “we could safely continue down the stairs”.³ Mr Wright himself recorded that he took control of D2416’s head before the group started to walk down the stairs as D2416 was not complying with instructions.⁴ It was more than three months before DCM Stephen Webb, a Use of Force instructor at Brook House, completed a Use of Force review meeting form on 18 July 2017. (As explained in Chapter D.7 in Volume II, these were handwritten, single-page forms completed following a review of documentation for each use of force.) Mr Webb indicated on the form that body worn camera footage of the incident was available, but he did not indicate whether he had watched it. His review identified no lessons to be learned or training needs. ⁵
18. In his witness statement to the Inquiry, Mr Shadbolt explained that the officers did not try to put any clothing on D2416 due to his demeanour and the risk that he was posing at the time. He asserted that D2416 “did not de-escalate throughout the intervention”.⁶
19. The Inquiry did not hear oral evidence from any of the officers involved about this incident.

1. CJS0074115 UOF 88.17 BWC[↩]
2. The footage time stamp indicated that the time was 05:10, but Detention Custody Manager Shane Farrell stated the time to be an hour later[↩]
3. CJS005630_014[↩]
4. CJS005630_019[↩]
5. CJS000902_025[↩]
6. SER000441_023 para 158[↩]