- Death of Michael Swindells
-
Michael Swindells
QGM
West Midlands Police Died 21 May 2004 (aged 44) Place of birth Hyde, Greater Manchester, England Place of death City Hospital, Birmingham, England Years of service 1990-2004 Rank Detective Constable Awards Queen's Gallantry Medal DC Michael Swindells, QGM, was a British police officer who was stabbed to death on 21 May 2004 in Birmingham whilst attempting to arrest a suspect who had earlier threatened members of the public with a knife.
Contents
Background
Swindells lived in Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire but was originally from Hyde, Greater Manchester. He was a former Royal Engineers lance corporal who had served with West Midlands Police for 14 years until his death.[1]
Death
Swindells was stabbed once in the chest, penetrating his heart, while pursuing a suspect, known to be armed with a kitchen knife, on a towpath of the Tame Valley Canal underneath Gravelly Hill Interchange in Aston, Birmingham.[2] The suspect had used the knife earlier in the day to threaten a carpenter carrying out routine repair work on a garden gate outside his council house, which led to Swindells and some of his colleagues later encountering the suspect on a park bench then pursuing him down the towpath for over half-a-mile. The officer's colleagues administered first aid after the stabbing but were unable to save him; the suspect was arrested later in a cemetery, three miles away, by armed police.[3]
Aftermath
Glaister Earl Butler, a 48-year-old paranoid schizophrenic who resided in a council-owned maisonette in Nechells, Birmingham, was convicted of Swindells's manslaughter. He had been charged with murder but the jury accepted his defence of diminished responsibility. He was detained indefinitely in a secure psychiatric hospital.[4][5]
The jury in Butler's trial heard how he suffered intermittently with paranoid schizophrenia for between 15 and 20 years and had been treated in hospital, sometimes against his will, on more than one occasion in the previous four years, most recently in October 2001.[6] The actions of Butler's treatment staff were criticised in an independent inquiry by Robert Francis, QC, in 2009. A total of 432 doses of the medication prescribed to Butler for his mental disorder were discovered unused in his home; he was allowed to get into financial difficulty by not renewing his housing benefit and owed rent money to the housing authority; and workers, including a consultant psychiatrist, visited Butler's residence only weeks before Swindells' death and observed a large knife on the sofa and damage to a door, but accepted Butler's explanation that this was due to martial arts practice and concluded wrongly that there was no cause for concern. Before the attack on Swindells the mental health services were called by police enquiring about Butler's condition and how dangerous he should be considered if officers encounter him, but staff were unable to give full and accurate details due to the poor state of the records.[7]
Swindells was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal posthumously. The Police Memorial Trust erected a stone memorial to the officer in 2008 at the location of the incident (52°30′42″N 1°52′00″W / 52.5116692°N 1.8666267°W). The memorial was unveiled by the Trust's founder and chairman Michael Winner.[8]
See also
References
- ^ "Mass held for stabbed officer". BBC. 26 May 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/3748857.stm.
- ^ "Memorial for stabbed Birmingham police officer". Birmingham Post. Jun 30 2008. http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2008/06/30/memorial-for-stabbed-birmingham-police-officer-65233-21203603/.
- ^ Britten, Nick (22 May 2004). "Detective is stabbed to death after chasing man". The Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1462544/Detective-is-stabbed-to-death-after-chasing-man.html.
- ^ "Man remanded over stabbed detective". The Telegraph (London). 24 May 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1462685/Man-remanded-over-stabbed-detective.html.
- ^ "Dc Michael Swindells’ killer was ‘let down by NHS’ – inquiry". Birmingham Mail. Sep 11 2009. http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2009/09/11/dc-michael-swindells-killer-was-let-down-by-nhs-inquiry-97319-24663375/.
- ^ Cooper, Matthew (10 May 2005). "Mentally ill man 'stabbed police officer' after chase". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/mentally-ill-man-stabbed-police-officer-after-chase-490171.html.
- ^ http://www.bsmhft.nhs.uk/EasySiteWeb/GatewayLink.aspx?alId=3192
- ^ http://www.policememorial.org.uk/Police_Memorial_Trust/PMT_Local_Memorials/PMT-Swindells-2004/PMT-Swindells-2004.htm
Categories:- 2004 in England
- 2004 deaths
- Deaths by stabbing
- British police officers killed in the line of duty
- History of Birmingham, West Midlands
- 2008 in England
- People from Hyde, Greater Manchester
- People from Staffordshire
- Royal Engineers soldiers
- Recipients of the Queen's Gallantry Medal
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