called on arrival at Denton and he arrived at the police station three hours later. He spent three or four minutes with the accused but was unable to complete his examination because he found his patient “un-cooperative”. He left Patterson lying naked on a cold stone floor and recommended that he be taken to Strangeways Prison Hospital. When he learned later that evening that this would not be possible he neither visited nor made any recommendation that Patterson be taken to some other hospital. At the inquest this doctor confirmed that he had failed to notice over thirty wounds to Patterson’s body (he saw wounds only to the face and head) that twelve other witnesses testified they had seen that day. The Coroner confessed himself “amazed” that a police doctor called to see a man who had spent the day lying naked on a concrete floor moaning and incoherent left him to remain in that condition without even suggesting that he be covered with a blanket or given a mattress. During the rest of the day his condition deteriorated and he suffered incontinence but was left by the police naked and injured on a bare stone floor lying in his own feces. Later that evening he was found dead in his cell. After six days in custody it was only after death that he was finally given a mattress and a blanket. Inquest There have been three inquests into the death of Leon Patterson. The first inquest was adjourned and there have been two different explanations for this. The first explanation is “problems with a juror”. The second explanation is that the coroner was sacked because of some remarks he made to Patterson’s twin sister, Stephanie Lightfoot-Bennet, who was representing the family at the inquest. It is of course possible that both of these explanations are true. The second inquest in April 1993 resulted in a verdict of unlawful killing but on appeal by the police this verdict was quashed by the High Court and a third inquest in October 1994 returned a verdict of “misadventure contributed to by neglect”. The cause of Patterson’s death has not been ascertained with any certainty. At postmortem examination it was found that part of his nose was missing, that he had severe bruising to his testicles and a total of 32 injuries covering his body. The family pathologist supported by an expert in