was taken to the Whittington Hospital, North London. She died on 1 August 1993 due to cerebral hypoxia and cardiac arrest, without regaining consciousness. Cause of death Gardner was examined by four forensic pathologists who concluded that the cause of death was cerebral hypoxia. As she had suffered a multiple head injury during the struggle samples of brain tissue were subsequently examined by an independent neuropathologist to establish whether brain injury may have caused the hypoxia rather than asphyxiation as a direct result of the gag and tape. Two further tests were then conducted by independent neuropathologists who both dismissed the head injury as a factor. Manslaughter trial On 15 May 1995, three police officers from the ADG stood trial accused of Gardner's manslaughter. A key part of the defence case was that Gardner's death was caused by head trauma sustained as she violently resisted the officers and not as a direct result of the tape used to gag her. Paula Lannas, a forensic pathologist, testified: "There were bruises on the scalp that indicates the head had struck a hard surface. The lack of oxygen was secondary to the head injury. The brain was injured. That led to deprivation of oxygen and death. Such a swelling would lead to cardiac arrest and the deprivation of oxygen." Experts for the prosecution and other pathologists disputed Lannas' findings. On 2 June 1995, Detective Constable John Burrell was acquitted on the directions of the judge, Mr Justice Mantell. Detective Sergeant Linda Evans and Detective Constable Colin Whitby were found not guilty by the jury on 14 June 1995. Following the trial, the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) announced that there would be no internal disciplinary inquiry. The PCA said that "a disciplinary charge of authority would in substance be the same as the criminal charge of which the officers have been acquitted" and "an officer cannot be tried on both criminal and discipline charges for the same offence". Aftermath As a result of Gardner's death, the use of mouth gags was suspended by the Commissioner of the MPS in August 1993 and banned by Michael Howard, the Home Secretary, in January 1994. In 1996, questions were raised about the work of Paula Lannas, the defence pathologist. During a trial at the Old Bailey in June 1998, Lannas testified that bruising on the neck of a 16-month-old child "resulted from strangulation by the mother's boyfriend."