Disciplinary action taken against three police officers

THREE police officers have been disciplined following the death of a teenager who collapsed in custody after choking on a condom filled with drugs.

Gareth Brogden, 18, who had swallowed a condom containing heroin, collapsed at Hartlepool police station after he had been arrested for a motoring offence in Feburary 2000.

He was taken to the University Hospital of Hartlepool, where his life-support machine was switched off 15 days later.

An inquest last June found Mr Brogden's death was an accident. But the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) said yesterday that a police constable had received a reprimand and two constables written warnings.

An authority spokesman said the unnamed custody sergeant involved would have faced a similar hearing, but he had retired from Cleveland Police.

Mr Brogden, from Hartlepool, gained notoriety at the age of 11 when he appeared in a Tyne-Tees television documentary disguised in a black balaclava - which earned him the nick-name Balaclava Boy.

In the programme, about crime on his estate, he was heard boasting about stealing cars and also admitted being the driver of a vehicle which smashed into an elderly couple's fence.

Last Feburary, he was arrested in connection with possible motoring offences.

When he arrived in custody he was having difficulty in breathing and collapsed before being taken to hospital.

A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death to be hypoxic brain damage due to inhalation of a foreign object and a morphine overdose.

The PCA launched the investigation after Mr Brogden's family raised their concerns.

The authority ordered that the police constable who was acting sergeant at the arrest had to appear before a misconduct tribunal last month and he admitted the breach "unconditionally".

The custody sergeant who avoided a similar hearing had left the force after reaching the statutory retirement age and after suffering a period of ill-health.

The PCA statement said: "All police staff present during the incident have received advice as to their handling of the incident.''

A spokeswoman from Cleveland Police said: "We can confirm an officer pleaded guilty to the breach of the police conduct regulations when he appeared before a misconduct panel on Thursday, April 25."