Suicide after police contact - Metropolitan Police Service, September 2017

On 21 September 2017 Metropolitan Police Service officers attended an address in London to execute a search warrant after receiving intelligence someone at the address was in possession of indecent images of children (IIOC). The home was searched and a man was arrested after admitting possession of IIOC. His electronic devices, including his mobile phone, were seized, and he was taken to a police station, where he was booked into custody and criminally interviewed. After the interview, he was released under investigation. Later that day, the man’s body was found at the bottom of cliffs in Kent. An inquest held in summer 2018 determined he had died by suicide. We investigated the contact the man had with police before his death. We obtained CCTV footage from custody, the recording of the police interview and the 999 call. Based on the evidence available, we found no indication any police officer had …