Police 'truly sorry' over death of Bolton woman found unresponsive in police cell

A police force has apologised for failing its duty of care to a Bolton woman who died after being found unresponsive in a police cell. Kelly Hartigan-Burns, 35, died at Royal Blackburn Hospital in 2016 after being found in the cell at Greenbank Police Station in the early hours of Saturday December 4, Lancs Live reports.

After a five-week inquest, a jury concluded Lancashire Constabulary had significantly contributed to her death through various failings. It cited contributing factors including the absence of PNC warning markers on Kelly’s record, a lack of training, the failure of the senior attending officer to inform the transporting officer or the custody staff of the suicide or self harm risk, and the management of Kelly in the custody suite.

Failure to explain the custody process and the speed and manner in which Kelly was processed also increased the risk of self-harm or suicide, the jury concluded. Now, the force has apologised, saying it has failed to keep Kelly safe from harm.

READ MORE:Police failings contributed to death of Bolton woman found unresponsive in cell, inquest jury rules

DCC Sacha Hatchett, of Lancashire Constabulary, said: “Our thoughts first and foremost today are with the family of Kelly Hartigan-Burns and with all of her loved ones. Lancashire Constabulary owes a duty of care to all of those in our custody and they should be able to rely on us to keep them safe. We failed to do that with Kelly and for that we are truly sorry.

"Since that night we have taken a number of steps to minimise the risk of such a tragedy being able to ever happen again. This includes a number of system changes to strengthen our processes when booking people into custody and increasing training for staff on how to