Jury concludes police actions were not a direct cause of deaths in a Road Traffic Collision

Paige Jones represented West Midlands Police in a 7-day jury inquest into the deaths of Aroz Awat and Marwan Abdulqadir in Birmingham who sadly died after their car collided at speed with a tree.

The Coroner concluded, after submissions at the conclusion of the evidence, that neither the operational nor systemic duty under Article 2 was arguably engaged on the facts of the case. On the facts, there was no real and immediate risk to life on the information known to the officers at the time. The Coroner pointed out the importance of avoiding hindsight.

After four days of evidence, and two days of deliberation, the jury concluded that the police pursuit was conducted in accordance with the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice on Police Pursuits and that the actions of the police officers were not a direct cause of the collision.

The Jury returned a conclusion of Road Traffic Collision.

The Coroner was also satisfied that there was already a comprehensive framework in place governing the safe functioning of police pursuits. Accordingly, it was unnecessary to issue a Prevention of Future deaths report.