Petition updateRicki's Story - Right Care Right Person FailedCause Of Death Changed at Inquest & Another police ERROR Found that I Didn't Know
Mark GilesBarnsley, ENG, United Kingdom
2 June 2024

Update :-

 Went to the Pre Inquest Review on 30th May at Sheffield Coroners Court, Got a copy of the Coroner's Bundle which contains all witness statements, didn't get a chance to read it anyway back to that later.

I was with Ricki's dad and believe it or not ,Ricki's Mother and sister turned up.

Turned out that because I wasn't family or still in a relationship with Ricki's I was only allowed to talk to the Coroner via Ricki's dad Nigel, and understandably his dad was not in a good way, even at one point he asked the coroner if I could talk on his behalf as his dad as he stated that he wasn't in a good mental way, but all the coroner replied was for him to take his time and relax and try to calm down(it was in a nice way).

Back to the inquest, we all only then found out that even though Rick's date of death was May 20th , the day he was found, the coroner stated that he had died before that, so that was the first surprise, second was the cause of death, now we were all told that it was Volatile Substance Abuse due to Superglue and Aerosol Abuse,now here's the poor reasoning for that conclusion and trust me its a poor excuse, in the police officers who attended the scene when Ricki was found put in his witness statement amongst other thing that within arms reach was a tube of superglue and and aerosol, the neglected to state what type of aerosol e.g air freshener, fly spray, deodorant, so will never know. Anyway the pathologist who determined that they could no conclude a cause of death decided to look at the police officers statement and pick the superglue and aerosol as the cause without any proof, when via Ricki's dad I asked about the type of aerosol she looked through all her papers but could not answer that question and she then started thinking which is understandable as on my desk at home I have superglue and various aerosols so it seamed a very poor conclusion to come to but unfortunately the pathologist passed away since Ricki's death, so then she decided to change the cause to something like Undetermined with a side note of due to Ricki's history of drinking that it was a probable cause.

So now we found out he died before the 20th May and the new cause of death his family were happy to let the coroner do a proper inquest there and then.

Throughout the inquest Ricki's dad was visibly upset and I was in tears but his mother and sister did not show and emotions and even when the coroner asked throughout the inquest if they anything they wanted to ask or say and it was nothing where as Ricki's dad tried to the best, he did ask question and also the questions I had to ask him to ask the coroner. I did on two occasions get to say what I felt about Ricki and it was hard trying to get the words out while crying, the coroner also said that she had a picture of Ricki in her papers which she found and showed us and its one I took of Ricki in a suit and she said he looked very handsome, which started me off again, I do remember saying directly to the coroner that” Ricki might have been a S*it ,but he was my S*it and I love him so much” and I was shocked to hear Ricki's mother say “He loved you too”.

So then the Inquest was concluded, Cause of Death Undetermined, possible due to drinking.

 


Now Ricki's dad gave me his paper copy of the Coroner's bundle which I had not had time to read as we only got it when we arrived at the inquest, when I got home I was totally drained physically and mentally, but I then started to read it, I then got to a statement that was done by a Chief Inspector of South Yorkshire Police and I was shocked, in the 10 months of investigating this and two complaints to the Police and the IOPC, they only told me that a neighbour had called wanting a welfare check on Ricki two days before, Ricki was found on May 20th and neighbour had called on the 18th May and was told to call NHS 111, this is what I knew then, now the coroner said Ricki died before May 20th when he was found,and I last spoke to Ricki on May 11th at 14:55, then I find from the Chief Inspectors statement, that Ricki's mother called on the 15th May asking for a welfare check on Ricki and was eventually told to call NHS 111, so going by the statement the Chief Inspector did , some time later his mother called police back saying that NHS 111 were unable to contact Ricki and that she needs to call the police back and get Ricki put as a Missing Person, so she did and bin the Picture is what they said to her.

So now we have me talking to Ricki on May 11th, his mother calling police to have him as a Missing Person on May 15th then a neighbour calling police on May 18th and then finally me calling on May 20th, and coroner is saying he Died before May 20th. So now the question is could the police have either saved him 5 days before he was found or at least not let him lay there, if they had dealt with Ricki as a Missing Person on 15th May as his mother had told them that NHS 111 told her to tell police to put him as a Missing person but they ended up not doing anything, so you now have the police and IOPC after my two complaints saying an ERROR was made on my call and Ricki should have been dealt with as a missing person on May 20th but on my call I requested various time to have him as a missing person and now I find 5 days before true or not but the police have said it that Ricki's mother informed them that NHS 111 told her to call police back and put Ricki as a Missing Person but the police didn't. So now there's more question for South Yorkshire Police , Like why only tell me of the Call by a neighbour but not the call by this mother, i'm guessing it because there is a much better chance Ricki would still be alive if they had dealt with him as missing person on May 15th, we shall see what they have to say, I will keep you all up to date. I'm awaiting a response from the IOPC and I will be putting this to the police, I have just found out that South Yorkshire have accepted the IOPC Recommendations but sadly one of them was to contact me directly but as I expected I've heard Nothing from South Yorkshire Police

Please Please Please Sign and Share 

Copy link
WhatsApp
Facebook
Nextdoor
Email
X