A 17-year-old girl from England was found dead just days after being arrested by police and had been held in custody for an entire weekend.
Kesia Leatherbarrow, who suffered with mental health problems and drug addiction, was found dead in a friend’s garden in Dukinfield on December 3 – a day after she appeared in court.
An inquest into her her case claims she had threatened to kill herself in front of officers a month earlier.
She was arrested by Greater Manchester Police on November 30 on suspicion of criminal damage and possession of class B drugs after an incident at a property in Hyde, Greater Manchester and detained at Ashton-under-Lyne station for two nights.
According to the Guardian, when officers were called, they arrested her and discovered a small quantity of cannabis in her possession. Kesia spent two nights and three days in police custody; a few hours after being released, she hanged herself in a friend’s garden.
It later emerged that Kesia had been kept in police cells despite becoming very distressed, banging her head against the wall and making suicide threats.
The mirror says the Independent Police Complaints Commission is examining the circumstances surrounding her death and detention and an inquest is now under way at Stockport Coroner’s Court – expected to last five weeks.
