Father-of-two died of heart attack in custody cell while cops were watching PORN yards away

A father-of-two suffered a heart attack and died in his cell because police officers who should have been monitoring him were watching PORN at the time, an inquest heard.

Lloyd Butler, 39, was arrested on suspicion of being drunk and incapable on August 4, 2010, but died in custody three hours later after suffering a cardiac arrest.

An inquest heard officers should have taken him to hospital for monitoring but instead took him to Stechford Police Station in Birmingham and dumped him in a cell.

And rather than keeping a watch every 15 minutes on the dad-of-two, officers viewed sex websites on police computers, Birmingham Coroners Court heard.

His family’s barrister Stephen Cragg QC told the hearing how cops gathered around laughing as they distracted by a “website about women offering sex.”

He said Sergeant Mark Albutt also visited Sky Sports and Next clothing websites while PC Dean Woodcock made personal phone calls on the station’s landline.

Mr Cragg claimed officers had gathered around PC Woodcock’s screen and joked as they loaded the X-rated website.

But giving evidence PC Woodcock denied the claims and said: “I genuinely can’t remember what that website was.

“You don’t have sites like that on West Midlands Police computer.

“They are blocked.”

The inquest heard Mr Butler, from Tile Cross, Birmingham,  was taken to Stechford Police station but officers breached their own guidelines by failing to take him to hospital.

When they finally discovered he had collapsed they called an ambulance and he was rushed to Heartlands Hospital in the city but it was too late and he was pronounced dead.

Officers were supposed to rouse Mr Butler every 15 minutes but regularly left him longer, the jury were told.

And despite classifying him as “high risk”, custody nurse Ian O’Hara was sent to assess another prisoner first.

There was a 38-minute gap from the last time PC Woodcock checked on Mr Butler until Mr O’Hara entered the cell and immediately spotted he was in trouble.

Mr O’Hara said: “He was struggling to breathe, that was obvious from the hatch.

“I checked for a pulse and got one and asked for PC Woodcock to get an ambulance straight away because someone in that condition shouldn’t be there.

“Next, a minute or a minute and a half after that, he suddenly stopped breathing and I could feel no pulse.

“It was there and then it wasn’t.”

On Tuesday the jury were shown shocking CCTV footage taken inside the police station on the day Mr Butler died.

At one point Mr Butler’s trousers slipped beneath his waist but instead of helping him, officers made fun of him.

PC Woodcock is also heard on CCTV joking that one way of rousing Mr Butler would be to “hit him round the backside”.

Officers were seen laughing behind the desk as they watch Mr Butler on CCTV cameras struggling to get to his feet in the cell.

At one point one officer remarks: “I thought he was just about to headbutt the door then.”

An Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report conducted after Mr Butler’s death found one officer guilty of gross misconduct and another guilty of misconduct but both were allowed to keep their jobs.

The inquest, which is expected to last another week, continues.