... to the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes by British police.
The number of deaths of people during or following police custody in England and Wales for the last few years are:
2001 -2002: 21 (3 of them in police stations) 2002 - 2003: 40 (8 in police stations) 2003- 2004: 38 (7 in police statsions)
This doesn't include people killed in road traffic accidents involving police vehicles. The Home Office doesn't keep statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
(Source: Hansard)
If you are interested in what happened to all those people it is worth perusing the Home Office report on Deaths During or Following Police Contact 2003-2004. Macabre but fascinating reading, including some very elliptical narratives along the lines of:
... X was taken to the police station and detained, but later transferred to a hospital where he died.
As you do.
