A police officer who oversaw the detention of a man who later died on a Salford motorway has told his family ‘there’s things I wish I would have done differently.’
Benjamin Connor was hit by a car on the M602 after a night out on December 27, 2021. The incident came less than two hours after police left the ‘intoxicated’ dad-of-three at Cornbrook Metrolink tram stop in the early hours of the morning – believing he ‘didn’t pose a risk to himself.’
He had been picked up by officers from Greater Manchester Police following an incident at a property in Rusholme. The third day of an inquest into his death was told today (January 15), Mr Connor had gone back to the flat with a man he had met in the city centre that night.
Police were called at around 12.40am on December 28 after reports he had lashed out with a knife. Jurors at the inquest have been told Mr Connor ‘wasn’t informed at any point’ that he was under arrest but that he was escorted from the property in handcuffs and put into the back of a police van.
Mr Connor’s mother, Sharon Weir, made statements and penned a letter to Bolton Coroner’s Court ahead of the inquest, but has now sadly died. In the letter, she hit out at GMP for ‘dumping’ the Wythenshawe-born father-of-three at the tram station, saying he was in ‘no fit state to be left alone’.
She also said he had ‘no money, phone or transport at Christmas’ and questioned why he wasn’t ‘locked up’.
Police were called at around 12.40am on December 28
(Image: Facebook)
The third day of the hearing at Bolton Coroner’s Court heard evidence from the two officers who were in the van that transported him. They said they believed Mr Connor had been arrested for a ‘breach of the peace’ and that the officer who had initially detained him had asked that he be ‘removed from the area.’
In footage from officers’ body-worn cameras, Mr Connor says he has no fixed address, but that he was going to be spending the night at an address in Higher Blackley. The officer who had been speaking to him in the flat, Sgt Kelly Strickland, said she didn’t write it down at that stage. And when she asked him for it again as he sat in the back of the van, he told her to ‘f*** off’ the hearing was told.
Her colleague PC Adam Challenor, who was in the van dispatched to pick him up, told the inquest: “I suggested we take him to a tram or train station if there was no home address that we could take him to. He was only being removed from the area. That way he would be able to get himself home.
“I have several colleagues that would take people to tram stations, train stations or taxi ranks to get people home. It was quite common when I was on response, lots of people would do that..”
He added that Mr Connor was ‘being abusive’ during the journey but that didn’t give any concern as it was ‘quite common.’ He said taking him into custody was ‘always a consideration’ but that ‘as a van crew you always go off what the officers at the scene wants us to do.’
When they arrived at Cornbrook, he said they ‘dearrested’ him and ‘pointed him in the direction of the tram stop.’
PC Challenor said he ‘wasn’t given the full information about the actual incident.’ And he said he didn’t ask Mr Connor where he was going to go, or how he was going to get there.
Cornbrook Metrolink stop
(Image: ASP)
Another officer who responded to the incident at the flat has previously told the inquest that he said searched Mr Connor and found cigarettes, tobacco and a lighter, but no mobile phone, wallet or keys. However PC Challenor said as he observed him in the van: “I believe I saw him on a mobile phone.
“He looked as if he was texting, with his thumb.”.
He said he believed most people now had forms of payment on their phone but said he ‘should have checked if he had cash or a bank card on his person.’
Asked by Area Coroner Peter Sigee if he had information on whether trams were still running he said that as they approached Cornbrook, he saw ‘black figures of people at the tram stop.’
The officer added: “The tram network goes all over Manchester and I believed he would be able to get himself home.”
Asked by the family if he could have used his phone to search for the information, he said: “I could have yes.”
PC Challenor said he believed Mr Connor was ‘suitably dressed’ and that he ‘didn’t believe he was in a state of vulnerability.’ After releasing him, he returned to the van and was abusive again before ‘walking in the direction of the tram stop.’
“I didn’t believe he posed a risk to himself or anyone else at that time” he said. “I believed when we dropped him at the tram stop that he would be able to look after himself or I would never have dropped him there” he said.
Sgt Emma Voellner, at the time a PC, and who was driving the van, said it was ‘not uncommon’ to take people to a tram stop or taxi rank ‘so they can facilitate getting where they want to go.’ However ,she said: “Best practice would be to take them to a home address if you have one.”
She said PC Challenor has first suggested taking Mr Connor to the city centre but she ‘didn’t think that was appropriate’ given he had been there before the incident at the flat. She was asked why she didn’t ask Mr Connor herself for his address. “My colleague had already asked that question a couple of times. I relied on the fact she done that to obtain the information” she said.
The coroner asked her: “Was it just the easiest and most convenient for you to take him?’
“Absolutely not” the officer replied. “If I had had an address to take him to I absolutely would have taken him to it.”
She said she it was a ‘complete oversight’ to not check if trams were still running. “It’s something I have given real amount of thought to. Genuinely, I didn’t realise it was that late.” Adding: “I had risk assessed it and I believed he was in a fit state to have been left.”
Earlier, the officer who had ‘lead’ the response to the incident at the flat told members of Mr Connor’s family that ‘there’s things I wish I’d have done differently.’ The inquest heard when she arrived at the scene, on Wilmslow Road in Rusholme, Mr Connor and the complainant had blood on his jacket and fingers. There were also broken plates found, it was heard.
However after speaking to Mr Connor, PC Strickland said she offered to take him ‘home.’ Mr Sigee asked her: “Do you think you may have reached that decision prematurely?”
“I definitely reached that prematurely” she said. “What I should have done is speak to the victim first and speak to the officer speaking to the victim first before making that decision.”
“I just wanted to take him out of the flat” she continued. “I was aware that (the initial complainant) wanted him taking out of the flat” she said. She added Mr Connor ‘wanted to go’ and ‘willingly got into the police van.’ The complainant is also said to have informed them he wouldn’t support a prosecution.
She said that she ‘should have told him he was under arrest’ for a breach of the peace and I didn’t do that.’ “I wanted to take him home or to that address he gave us” she said. “I didn’t write the address down and I should have written the address down” she said. However she said: “I thought he would be taken to Higher Blackley.”
Asked by the coroner if ‘accepted there was an alternative way you could have dealt with Mr Connor?’ she said: “Yes sir.”
Addressing the family directly at the end of her evidence, she said: “I have learned a lot from this incident. I have gone over it a lot of the past few years, again and again. There’s things which I wish I would have done differently. I am sorry for your loss.”
At around 2.40am, Mr Connor was hit by a car travelling at 60mph on the eastbound M602, near Regent Road roundabout, and died in hospital later.
The inquest, due to concluded next week, continues.