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| COPS
FACE CELL DEATH CHARGES |
Highly-praised sergeant
accused of perverting justice
SERIOUS concerns over safety in Camden’s police cells have
been raised after the borough’s most decorated officer learned
he would be charged with covering up the death of a man at Holborn
police station.
Sergeant Matthew Walters, 35, who last year won three assistant
commissioner’s commendations – more than any other officer
in Camden – is accused of perverting the course of justice
and forgery following the death of 47-year-old Italian Enzo Stompanato
in December 2002.
A second officer, Constable Simon Jefferson, 27, faces charges of
manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice
and forgery.
Both have been summoned to appear at Bow Street Magaistrates’
Court on September 26 after a two-and-a-half year investigation
into Mr Stompanato’s death. They have been removed from front-line
policing but will carry on in desk jobs until the case is completed.
Mr Stompanato was arrested for being drunk and disorderly on December
15, 2002, in Euston Road after refusing assistance from an ambulance
crew. Less than an hour-and-a-half later he was found dead on the
floor of a Holborn cell. A toxicology report concluded he died from
a heroin overdose.
The charges came as campaigners urged extra help for police in dealing
with the huge numbers of detainees in Camden who are drunk, mentally
ill or high on drugs. |
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