A fatal accident inquiry is to be held into the deaths of two men in police custody.
Declan Gallacher died in custody at Clydebank Police Office on December 23, 2018, and David Berry died at Govan Police Office on July 11, 2020.
The purpose of a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) is to determine the cause of death, the circumstances in which the death occurred, and to establish what reasonable precautions could have been taken, in order to minimise the risk of future deaths in similar circumstances.
It is anticipated the focus of the FAI, which is mandatory, will be on custody processes, risk assessments, welfare checks and supervision of custody staff.
READ MORE: Police recover body of man from canal near Glasgow city centre
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said it has lodged a first notice with Glasgow Sheriff Court to start the court process for a joint FAI into the deaths of Mr Gallacher and Mr Berry.
Procurator fiscal Katrina Parkes, head of the COPFS Scottish fatalities investigation unit, said: “The Lord Advocate considers that the deaths of Declan Gallacher and David Berry occurred while in custody and as such a fatal accident inquiry is mandatory.
“The lodging of the first notice enables FAI proceedings to commence under the direction of the sheriff.
“An FAI will allow a full public airing of all the evidence at which families and other interested parties will be represented. The evidence will be tested in a public setting and be the subject of judicial determination.
“The families and their legal representatives will continue to be kept informed of significant developments as court proceedings progress.”
A preliminary hearing will be held on May 12 at Glasgow Sheriff Court.
Unlike criminal proceedings, FAIs are inquisitorial in nature, and are used to establish facts rather than apportion blame.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel