2 weeks Ago
A "beautiful and caring" trainee police officer took his own life after struggling with his work, an inquest has found. Anugrah Abraham, known as Anu, was aged 21 when he was found dead in Radcliffe on March 4 last year. Anu, from Whitefield, was training with West Yorkshire Police (WYP), but had been struggling with the job and his associated university course.
An inquest into his death finished today, Tuesday, at Rochdale Coroners' Court after more than three weeks of evidence was heard. His dad, Amar Abraham, claimed his son was bullied and suffered racism during the course, which was disputed by the force. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigated allegations of bullying at WYP before Mr Abraham’s death and said there was no evidence to indicate he was “treated any differently to other student officers”.
Senior coroner for Manchester North, Joanne Kearsley, noted Anu had been described as a bright student who did well in school and college. He had always expressed an interest in joining the forces from a young age and in 2021 began an application to join WYP in collaboration with Leeds Trinity University on the police constable degree apprenticeship programme. After Anu’s initial training at Carr Gate in West Yorkshire he was placed on a development plan.
Anu did not tell his family about this with him being described as “a private man” and it was said he may not “always have given them a full picture”. While he was in training at Carr Gate, it was discovered Anu had dyslexia. Read more: Trainee police officer from Bury was 'bullied and suffered racism' When he arrived at Halifax, his line manager Sgt Ryan was not made aware of the informal diagnosis and therefore was not aware that Anu made need some adjustments.
However, it was deemed that there was no evidence to suggest extra support would have made any difference to the outcome. Also, when Anu arrive at Halifax, the district sergeants were not made aware that he was on a development plan. PC Courtney Shaw was Anu’s mentor at Halifax and she told the court that at the end of his 10 week mentorship, he did not have all his competencies to be signed off.
Anu was placed on another informal development plan on July 22 to make sure he completed all his competencies by September 2022. PC Shaw said Anu was forgetful and clumsy and at one point lost his pocket notebook. In September 2022, Anu was on attachment with different police departments.
Anu had a referral to the occupational health unit as he had disclosed to a manager that he was struggling with his mental health due to having attended a number of traumatic incidents, being new to the job and learning the role. He did not disclose any thoughts of suicide at the time. It was during this time that Anu was referred through the employee assistance programme to a counsellor, Wendy Campbell, via mental health services provider Health Assured.
Anu reported low mood and severe depression due to the amount of work required from the job and university, lack of social life, and the fact he had stopped doing things he enjoyed. He also told Ms Campbell that he was having re-emerging suicidal thoughts. Read more: Trainee WYP officer dealt with 'too harshly' by sergeant, inquest told Ms Campbell explained many police officers she had worked with had expressed suicidal thoughts and she did not consider there was an immediate risk to Anu.
Many of Anu’s peers and colleagues said they really liked Anu and he would have conversations with them indicating a desire to do a different job. An officer who left the same programme Anu was on, Alastair Smallman, who was friends with Anu, said they would both discuss their lack of enjoyment in the police force. However, Anu struggled with the idea of letting himself and others down and also the idea that they had wasted time in applying and joining the force.
During December 2022 and January 2023, morale was low due to low staffing. On January 4, 2023, there was a meeting between Anu, Sgt Mark Wade and PC Wright. Sgt Wade asked to be part of this meeting after he was made aware that Anu had had a dream about him which had upset him.
He wanted to see if Anu was OK and ask him about it. During this meeting he also asked Anu if he had any thoughts of suicide or self-harm and Anu said he did not. On January 13 Anu had another meeting with the occupational health unit where he disclosed his suicidal thoughts, he was signposted to Andy’s Man Club, his GP and the crisis team.
From February 16, Anu was on annual leave. Just prior to his leave he texted his sister stating that he “was going to have a serious chat with mum and dad about quitting”. Anu’s mum Sonia told the court he had raised the prospect before and had been advised to get another job before doing so.
During his time on annual leave, he went to Amsterdam with friends and he was excited about going away. One friend on the trip, Daniel Rogers, said that on the penultimate evening Anu said that he didn’t want to go back to work and from that point Anu “started to fade”. Anu told Mr Rogers about “a lack of praise for stuff he does and the stress of being shouted at – he felt picked on for issues outside his control”.
Read more: Bury trainee WYP officer was 'set up to fail', inquest hears On March 2 Anu visited his GP regarding an issue with back pain, but in this appointment he did not mention anything regarding his mental health. The following day, on March 3, Anu was said to be seemingly happy, and he had breakfast with his father that morning. He spent some time applying for jobs and then said he was going out and would be back later.
Having not returned, Anu was reported to Greater Manchester Police as missing and a concern for welfare "high-risk missing person" case was raised. Tragically, Anu was found hanging in woodland on March 4, 2023. Items were located with him that he had bought in a local store that day and there was a note present that expressed Anu’s intent to take his own life.
Ms Kearsley recorded Anu’s cause of death as suicide with the medical cause of death as hanging. Ms Kearsley said: “There is no evidence that any steps should have been taken which would on the balance of probabilities made a difference to the tragic outcome. “Anu had been absent from work for two weeks, and while I have no doubt he didn’t want to return, he had not discussed matters with his GP on March 2.
“He had given no indication to his family of anything which raised a concern with them on March 3.” Speaking to Anu’s family, Ms Kearsley said Anu’s death was a tragedy, and his death highlights the importance of young men being able to talk about their feelings. She added: “He was a beautiful, caring and humble young man.
” Ms Kearsley said she will write a prevention of future deaths report to the National Police Chiefs’ Council about the challenges in addressing mental health in policing. In a statement, the family said: “We disagree with the coroner that Anu’s death was not preventable. “Anu was set up to fail.
He never had sufficient support, particularly after he told his superiors that he was considering ending his own life. “We cannot fathom how and why the coroner has come to that conclusion. Sadly, it is too late for Anu and for our family.
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