The British authorities failed to protect the life of Christopher Edwards, who was kicked to death in a prison cell - and failed to investigate and give his family proper access to open and rigorous investigation and a remedy in the courts.

In a landmark judgment today, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the UK had breached the Human Rights Convention on four counts relating to the death of Christopher Edwards and the proceedings that followed. The implications for the way mentally-ill people are treated in the criminal justice system - and for the way in which investigations into deaths are handled - should be far-reaching.

Paul and Audrey Edwards said this morning: "Justice has been achieved for Christopher, for his family and, in the future, for all those in custody and their families. We are delighted at the judgment. The obligation is now on the Government and on all the public agencies involved to see such a tragedy never occurs again. "Thank God for the European Court and for Liberty and their lawyers to whom we are deeply grateful".

Joanne Sawyer, a Liberty lawyer, said: "The Government must now take action to ensure better and safer assessment and treatment of mentally-ill people in the criminal justice system and particularly in prison. The Government must take action - and set up a requirement for statutory investigations into all deaths in custody".

The UK breached its Article 2 duty to protect Christopher's life. The Court judgment says: "the failure of the agencies involved in this case (medical profession, police, prosecution and court) to pass on information about Richard Linford (Christopher's killer) to the prison authorities and the inadequate nature of the screening process on Richard Linford's arrival in prison disclose a breach of the State's obligation to protect the life of Christopher Edwards. There has therefore been a breach of Article 2 in this regard".

The UK also breached its procedural duty under Article 2(1) to investigate thoroughly and openly. There was a private, non-statutory inquiry commissioned by the Health Authority, Prison Service and County Council; (and later a Police Complaints Authority investigation). But the European Court agreed that the lack of power to compel witnesses and the private character of the proceedings - from which Mr & Mrs Edwards were excluded except when they were giving evidence themselves - meant the inquiry didn't comply with the requirements of Article 2(1) for an effective investigation into Christopher's death.

The Court also found that the UK had breached Article 13 - the right to an effective remedy for the Edwards family. There was no appropriate way for them to obtain a judgment on whether the authorities did in fact fail to protect their son's right to life, or on whether they had an enforceable claim for compensation. The Court ruled access to such a judgment is an essential part of a remedy for a bereaved parent.

BACKGROUND
Christopher Edwards, who had been tentatively diagnosed as being seriously mentally ill in 1991, was arrested for a breach of the peace on 27th November 1994 and taken to Colchester police station. He was later remanded in custody in Chelmsford Prison.
On 28th November Richard Linford was placed in the same cell as Christopher Edwards. Richard Linford had been arrested for assaulting his friend and her neighbour. He had a history of violent outbursts and assaults, including a previous assault on a cellmate in prison. He had been admitted to mental hospital in 1988, and was subsequently diagnosed as schizophrenic. Their cell's emergency call system was defective. (more details of the chain of events can be found in the European Court press release at www.echr.coe.int).

Richard Linford was convicted after pleading guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court to the manslaughter of Christopher Edwards by reason of diminished responsibility. He was sent to Rampton Special Hospital, diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. The Coroner's Inquest was closed, following the conviction.

In June 1998, a private, non-statutory inquiry commissioned by the local Health Authority, County Council and the Prison Service, concluded that ideally Christopher Edwards and Richard Linford should not have been in prison and in practice they should not have been sharing a cell. It found "a systemic collapse of the protective mechanisms that ought to have operated" to protect Christopher Edwards.

The Inquiry identified a series of shortcomings, including poor record-keeping, inadequate communication and limited inter-agency co-operation. It made 85 recommendations for improvements.

Nonetheless, the Edwards family were advised that there were no civil remedies available to them in the light of the findings of the Inquiry and, on 25th November 1998, the Crown Prosecution Service maintained their previous decision that there was insufficient evidence to proceed with criminal charges.

In April 2001, the Police Complaints Authority announced (in an outline of their findings) that Essex Police failed on 15 counts in their duty toward Christopher Edwards and his family. Among these, the police failed in their treatment of Christopher, failed to inform the prison service correctly about both his and his killer's mental ill-health, failed in the conduct of subsequent investigation, and failed to treat the family properly after the tragedy. Officers didn't co-operate with the investigation.

Audrey and Paul Edwards have been campaigning now for seven years to establish both what went wrong in their son's case and what can be done to prevent such tragedies recurring. A new Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit at the Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford was named after Christopher.

Liberty has long called for a national inquiry into deaths in custody and for the establishment of a genuinely independent police complaints commission. The need for both was clearly highlighted by Christopher Edwards' death, the subsequent ordeal of the family. The Attorney General has started an inquiry into deaths in custody; the current Police Reform Bill will establish a new Police Complaints Commission. Subject to stronger guarantees that it will carry out genuinely independent, fully-resourced investigation of all serious complaints against the police, we welcome this plan.

The judgment also quotes the case of Paul Wright, another man who died in prison as a result of healthcare failings and whose case Liberty is continuing to pursue. An independent inquiry into his death is due to report shortly.