Death of Roger Sylvester

Who is Death of Roger Sylvester?

Roger Sylvester was a mentally ill man who died in north London after being detained outside his home in Tottenham by eight Metropolitan police officers. It was reported that his neighbours had complained to police of a disturbance after Sylvester had started banging on his own front door, naked.

Police detained Sylvester under the Mental Health Act, then took him to St Anne's Hospital, Haringey, where he fell into a coma while being restrained on the floor of a padded room by six officers, as they waited for medical help. He died a week later.

In 2003, an inquest heard that Sylvester, who suffered from bipolar disorder, had died of brain damage and cardiac arrest, caused by difficulty breathing because of the position he was held in, and because of cannabis-induced delirium. A jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing in October 2003.

The eight officers who had taken Sylvester into custody appealed to the High Court against what they called an "irrational" ruling, and the verdict was overturned in November 2004.

In 1999, forensic pathologist Dr Freddy Patel was reprimanded by the General Medical Council for releasing medical details about Roger Sylvester to reporters outside an inquest hearing, Patel told reporters that Sylvester was a crack cocaine user, something his family denied. Patel later came under scrutiny for findings he had made in relation to the death of Ian Tomlinson.