THE family of man who died in Metropolitan Police custody demanded yesterday that its commissioner withdraw his acceptance of the senior arresting officer’s resignation.

Sean Rigg died in Brixton police station in August 2008 following prolonged restraint by officers. In August 2012, an inquest jury returned a damning verdict criticising the actions of the police and the unsuitable use of restraint. 

Last month senior arresting officer PC Andrew Birks consented to a new disciplinary investigation of Mr Rigg’s death by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), but PC Birks resigned before the IPCC could serve him with notices under the misconduct regulations.

Mr Rigg’s sister Marcia said: “There is no doubt in our minds that this decision by PC Birks was taken to avoid the risk of him being held accountable for his conduct towards Sean on August 21 2008 and acquiring a disciplinary record, possibly for gross misconduct.”

Campaign group Inquest co-director Deborah Coles said it was “unacceptable” that police officers were able to evade accountability for wrongdoing and frustrate the justice process in this way.

The IPCC’s original investigation found no wrongdoing by officers, but in light of the findings of the inquest an independent review was commissioned.

The findings of the review, published in May last year, concluded that the IPCC “committed blunder after blunder” and recommended it “reconsider the conduct of the police officers involved in the apprehension, restraint and detention of Mr Rigg.”

As a result, the IPCC made the decision to reopen the disciplinary and criminal investigations into Mr Rigg’s death.