An inquest into the death of a dad who was left naked and unresponsive in the back of a police van has been adjourned.
Andre Moura, 30, died after being arrested by officers from GMP for breach of the peace outside his home on Seventh Avenue in Oldham on the night of July 6, 2018.
A jury inquest expected to last four weeks was due to begin today (January 10) to determine how Mr Moura came by his death.
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Four police officers involved in the case were previously found guilty of misconduct at a tribunal hearing last month, but have been allowed to keep their jobs.
Following a three-week hearing, the four officers were all found to have breached standards of professional behaviour in a manner so serious it could have amounted to gross misconduct and dismissal.
The inquest hearing, which was due to begin over three years after Mr Moura's death, has now had to be postponed.
Stockport Coroner's Court heard that the spread of Omicron in the North West had led to a number of potential jurors having to pull out of the inquest after testing positive.
Other issues meant the court was not able to swear in what was deemed an adequate number of people to sit on the jury for the hearing to safely proceed.
Senior Coroner for Manchester South, Alison Mutch, told the hearing: "The situation is a very difficult situation.
"I myself have a great desire that this inquest should proceed not least because Mr Moura died in 2018. I think it is important that inquest proceedings are heard at the earliest opportunity.
"We are unfortunately in what is clearly the peak of a pandemic. A significant number of jurors have dropped out due to covid within the last week.
"If we start with 10 jurors we are three jurors away from the inquest not being able to proceed. We have 15 days of evidence and four weeks until the inquest concludes.
"Given the backlog in court listings there is a tendency to push on but I have to consider the interests of justice and fairness.
"I have taken the view that it is not appropriate for the inquest to start today. With great regret I am going to adjourn the inquest today."
A date for the hearing to resume is yet to be fixed but it is expected the inquest will take place later this year.
