Nicholas Ledger
31 Aug 2023 · Coroner Adam Smith · Inner North London
The coroner's concerns
1. charge communicated via PCR without advance warning
“That when a person who has been RUI'd is charged, standard practice (in accordance with current Metropolitan Police policies and procedures) is for that charge to be communicated to them via a PCR with no advance warning.”
2. lack of mental health risk assessment at PCR delivery
“That there is no formal process for assessing an individual's mental health and/or risk of suicide or self-harm at the time of delivery of a PCR.”
3. no formal mental health assessment at charge leading to suicide risk
“It appears to me that, in the absence of a formal mechanism to assess, at the time of being charged, an individual's mental health and risk of suicide or self-harm, there is an obvious risk of individuals in the future taking their own lives as a result of being charged by way of a PCR (potentially following a lengthy period of having been RUI'd and potentially months or years since there was last any consideration by the police of their mental health and risk of suicide or self-harm).”