Sister to sue over custody death

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The sister of a former soldier who died in police custody has been given the go-ahead to sue the Crown Prosecution Service for racial discrimination.

Falklands veteran Christopher Alder, 37, who was black, died in 1998 whilst being held in a Hull police station.

Janet Alder, from Burnley, Lancashire, said the CPS "belittled" her as they compiled a case against officers who stood trial over her brother's death.

A judge's decision to dismiss her claim was overturned by the Court of Appeal.

Mr Alder, of Dagger Lane, Hull, was injured in a scuffle during a night out in Hull and was later arrested in hospital for alleged breach of the peace and taken to the city's Queens Gardens police station.

Officers acquitted

The father-of-two died while lying face down and unconscious in a pool of blood in a police custody suite, as a group of officers stood chatting nearby.

A coroner's jury returned an unlawful killing verdict and misconduct and manslaughter charges were later brought against some Humberside Police officers.

However, the officers concerned were acquitted of all criminal charges in 2002 and were later also cleared of disciplinary complaints.

A judge sitting at the Central London County Court had ordered that allegations the CPS failed to consult or listen to Ms Alder about the conduct of the criminal proceedings over her brother should be struck out.

The judge also refused to allow her to amend a claim for loss caused by alleged CPS behaviour.

'Distressing circumstances'

But on Monday the Court of Appeal quashed the judge's rulings, allowing Ms Alder to go ahead with her claim for damages.

Lord Justice Sedley said Mr Alder died in "distressing and still contentious circumstances".

He said the essence of Ms Alder's claim was that if she and her brother had been white she would not have been treated in the way she said happened and that she had suffered both in her dignity and in her earnings.

In September this year, another judge dismissed a challenge by Mr Alder's son, Leon Wilson, from Hampshire, and refused to order a full public inquiry into the death.

Ms Alder's compensation claim against the CPS will now go ahead to a full hearing, a date for which has yet to be set.