Police blameless after Worcester City fan's death

2:40pm Saturday 29th September 2012 in Worcester Sarah Hickinbotham By Sarah Davies

ARREST: Colin Ranford fell in the street on April 11 last year. ARREST: Colin Ranford fell in the street on April 11 last year.

POLICE have been cleared of any wrongdoing in connection with the death of a well-known Worcester football fan.

Colin Ranford, of Leabank Drive, Northwick, known as Colin the Singer, died in hospital from a head injury on April 13 last year following a number of hours in custody.

The matter was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission for investigation, the results of which were revealed after the conclusion of an inquest this week, where a jury ruled his death was accidental.

Mr Ranford was arrested on the evening of April 11 for being drunk and disorderly after members of the public reported him lying in the street in Ombersley Road, Worcester. He had been seen to fall backwards and hit his head prior to police attending and the 51-year-old had a small head wound.

He was examined by paramedics and, according to the report, he was told several times he needed to go to hospital, but refused.

He became aggressive towards ambulance staff, was arrested and taken into police custody.

On Mr Ranford’s arrival at Worcester police station, the custody sergeant carried out a risk assessment and he was placed in a cell designated for intoxicated people.

He was constantly monitored with 15-minute rousing checks and examined by a police doctor.

At 1.30am the following morning, a rousing check found Mr Ranford to be unresponsive and he was transferred by ambulance to Worcestershire Royal Hospital. He was later moved to Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry, where he died.

The IPCC investigation found police responded promptly to the incident and their decision to arrest Mr Ranford was proportionate and necessary.

An off-duty police constable who came across Mr Ranford before emergency services arrived “acted with professionalism”, and some concerned members of the public at the scene helped to alert the authorities. It deemed checks to have been carried out appropriately and soon after midnight a police doctor assessed Mr Ranford as being fit to remain detained.

The investigation concluded there was no evidence of any misconduct by any officers involved in the arrest and detention of Mr Ranford. As a result of the IPCC investigation, West Mercia Police have issued a reminder to custody staff on some points of good practice in dealing with people under the influence of alcohol.

Mr Ranford was a passionate fan of Worcester City Football Club and was well known on the terraces at St George’s Lane.

He was nicknamed Colin the Singer for often leading the crowd in song.

Comments(22)

thecigarman says...
5:01pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Another cover up by west mercia police.

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dropkick55 says...
5:08pm Sat 29 Sep 12

What do you expect when they're investicated by themselves.

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Maggie Would says...
5:41pm Sat 29 Sep 12

The Independant Police Complaints Comission is just that - independent - so your comment is completely wrong, dropkick55

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dropkick55 says...
6:01pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Thats in name only, how many police have shot someone and every statement from all officers concerned have been nearly word the word same and they get off.
Look at Duggan case all officers bar one sat for eight hours making sure they told the same story!

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jovialcommonsense says...
6:26pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Perhaps if we stopped wanting to blame someone and expect them to be punished for every mistake we could have a more honest society.
We should encourage those who make mistakes to own up and we then help them improve their performance rather than look to persecute them.
The airline industry is a reasonable example.
Getting rid of most of the compensation culture would also help no end.

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Maggie Would says...
7:45pm Sat 29 Sep 12

I agree, jovial. It's very easy to throw brickbats rather than asking oneself how one can improve.

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DEMRICS says...
8:53pm Sat 29 Sep 12

Another Police whitewash.

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jovialcommonsense says...
9:30pm Sat 29 Sep 12

DEMRICS wrote:
Another Police whitewash.
That's exactly the type of comment which encourages others to try and hide things.

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Grumbleweed Connection says...
10:07pm Sat 29 Sep 12

I do not understand why the sad death of this gentleman has catalysed such vitriolic comments about West Meria Police.

The inquest (controlled by a coroner?) and the jury reached a verdict of accidental death. These people are independent of the police.

The IPCC is what it says on the tin-independent. Their verdict is that the response of the police was 'proportionate and necessary' and that there was no evidence of misconduct. The members of the IPCC are not appointed by the police.

This sad case has nothing to do with Duggan or anyone else.

Colin Ranford; peace be with you.

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worcswolf says...
10:59pm Sat 29 Sep 12

I believe we have one of the greatest Police forces in the world. And whenever someone dies in custody you always think that their is something amiss but I believe that unless you know what medical condition Mr Ranford was in and the amounts of alcohol in his body that it is wrong to make judgements and accussations. Todays Police are over regulated and have to explain away every little accussation. A death in custody must be the worst thing to happen to any Police force and hurt the family of Mr Ranford.
Again i believe we have the greatest Police Force in the world un-armed defenders who put in a lot of hard work with little thanks.

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The Doosra says...
11:18pm Sat 29 Sep 12

DEMRICS wrote:
Another Police whitewash.
What a clueless and witless remark. Where's your evidence?

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spider666 says...
7:16am Sun 30 Sep 12

Sad that he passed away but he went and got himself drunk,he refused hospital treatment,he got aggressive and got himself arrested,apart from regular checks while in custody there was nothing else that WM police could do.If he had gone to hospital then maybe it would have been a different outcome but the choice for that was Mr Ranfords and his alone.

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mayall8808 says...
7:59am Sun 30 Sep 12

Anyone hitting there head should be taken to hospital especially when drunk as it could be a severe bang or a cut, this is a hidden injury that most people do not seem to take serious, BUT he was concious and refused and aggressive which is a sign and also he was drunk? But he refused to go for medical attention so very difficult to see what else could have been done BUT i do hope the doctor was 100% sure of his condition in the cells as a brain trauma does not always show up straight away.

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wooshman says...
9:17am Sun 30 Sep 12

It's really annoying seeing idiot comments against police by certain contributors because they think it's clever to knock the police, yet soon as they want help who do they call = hypocrites

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thecigarman says...
11:50am Sun 30 Sep 12

Maggie Would wrote:
The Independant Police Complaints Comission is just that - independent - so your comment is completely wrong, dropkick55
This isent entirely true, do your homework,

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thecigarman says...
11:54am Sun 30 Sep 12

wooshman wrote:
It's really annoying seeing idiot comments against police by certain contributors because they think it's clever to knock the police, yet soon as they want help who do they call = hypocrites
Not all of us do.

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worcswolf says...
6:22pm Sun 30 Sep 12

God cannot believe some of these comments we have a great police force not the Gestapo lets give the family of the dead person some peace and the police force some respect

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keeneye says...
8:53am Mon 1 Oct 12

worcswolf says - you are a drip and have no experience with Worcester police - on this occasion I know Colin fell many times on the way home.No comments in this report about him falling in the cell and the police laughing at him. Its on video - Police in Worcester are in semi retirement - I know from experience. All they want to do is issue a incident numbers - stitching drivers up travellig through Barbourne a 5 oclock in the morning just before the end of shift is a good one. Confirmed by serving police officers from outside West Mercia.

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jenny001 says...
7:33am Wed 3 Oct 12

Maggie Would wrote:
The Independant Police Complaints Comission is just that - independent - so your comment is completely wrong, dropkick55
In reply to various comments l was interested to know actually just what powers the IPCC have from the horses mouth so to speack:
1) Can l arrange an interview with the IPCC to make my complaintr? reply: We are sorry but the IPCC does not have the facilities to offer face to face interviews. 2) What support does the IPCC offer to people making a comnplaint? reply We will endeavour to provide a service tailored to meet needs of the complaint. we also provide leaflets in different languages and formats. 3) Can the IPCC help me to make a financial claim against the Police? reply no. 4) The police have not properly investigated a crime l reported, what else can the IPCC do? reply If you are dissatisfied with an investiagtion which the police are currently carrying out or have finished carrying out, then the IPCC can consider a complaint, HOWEVER this would not lead to a review of the criminal investigation itself. The ipcc does not have any control over ploice handling of a criminal matter, we cannot review the results or instruct the police to reinvestigate. These are matters relating to the operational management of the polece force. 5)What happens after the IPCC has passed my complaint to the Police? reply: The IPCC is required to forward all complaints to the appropriate authority which in the majority of cases is the PSD of the police force concerned. The Psd will consider how your complaint should be handled, including whether they must record your complaint. Somebody from the force may contact you in order to determine what happened. The decision whether to record your complaint is about whether your complaint is able to be recorded and handled under the Police Reform Act 2002. If you want to make a formal complaint about the conduct of a police officer or member of the staff, the PSD has a duty to record it in this way. There are some circumstances even where you want to make a formal complaint, a complaint may not be recorded under the Police Reform ACT 2002. this is simply because the police are obliged to deal with it some other way.

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jenny001 says...
7:33am Wed 3 Oct 12

Maggie Would wrote:
The Independant Police Complaints Comission is just that - independent - so your comment is completely wrong, dropkick55
In reply to various comments l was interested to know actually just what powers the IPCC have from the horses mouth so to speack:
1) Can l arrange an interview with the IPCC to make my complaintr? reply: We are sorry but the IPCC does not have the facilities to offer face to face interviews. 2) What support does the IPCC offer to people making a comnplaint? reply We will endeavour to provide a service tailored to meet needs of the complaint. we also provide leaflets in different languages and formats. 3) Can the IPCC help me to make a financial claim against the Police? reply no. 4) The police have not properly investigated a crime l reported, what else can the IPCC do? reply If you are dissatisfied with an investiagtion which the police are currently carrying out or have finished carrying out, then the IPCC can consider a complaint, HOWEVER this would not lead to a review of the criminal investigation itself. The ipcc does not have any control over ploice handling of a criminal matter, we cannot review the results or instruct the police to reinvestigate. These are matters relating to the operational management of the polece force. 5)What happens after the IPCC has passed my complaint to the Police? reply: The IPCC is required to forward all complaints to the appropriate authority which in the majority of cases is the PSD of the police force concerned. The Psd will consider how your complaint should be handled, including whether they must record your complaint. Somebody from the force may contact you in order to determine what happened. The decision whether to record your complaint is about whether your complaint is able to be recorded and handled under the Police Reform Act 2002. If you want to make a formal complaint about the conduct of a police officer or member of the staff, the PSD has a duty to record it in this way. There are some circumstances even where you want to make a formal complaint, a complaint may not be recorded under the Police Reform ACT 2002. this is simply because the police are obliged to deal with it some other way.

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jenny001 says...
7:39am Wed 3 Oct 12

jenny001 wrote:
MaggExcuse spellings pressed submit in error before checked. Not sure if l would have any faith in the IPCC after reading the above guide notes just seems to be power in name only.

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thecigarman says...
2:37pm Fri 5 Oct 12

The proffesional stanards at hindlip deals with all investigations regarding westmercia, it allways goes through them, and there all police weather serving or not. i dealt wth them last year and they agreed that a certain officer had over stepd the mark,and said that they would gve him i quote: words of advice: they dident and he carried on, when i phoned them they said oh weve been busy and had overlookd it, waste of time. so i went and saw the serving officer myself recently and it has now stopped.

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