THE family of a man who died in police custody are appealing for the Independent Police Complaints Commission to appoint a new senior investigating officer for the case.
Nadeem Khan’s parents believe the man in charge of the case has a conflict of interest as he worked for Lancashire Constabulary for 27 years between 1974 and 2001 and for Greater Manchester Police between 2001 and May 2007.
Nadeem’s mother, Brenda, said: “To say an independent investigation is going to be carried out into my son’s death is farcical when the man who has been appointed to interview the officers who where there when Nadeem was arrested worked at Burnley Police Station for two years and for Lancashire Constabulary for nearly three decades.
We don’t want this investigation to be prolonged any further but we want to find out the truth about what happened to Nadeem on the day he died, so believe someone totally independent should be in charge of interviewing Police witnesses.”
Joanne Kearsley, Associate Partner at Farleys Solicitors, who is representing the Khan family said: “This is not a matter of the individual’s ability to perform his job but we feel strongly that it would be more appropriate to have a senior investigating officer who has not been employed by Lancashire Constabulary, particularly given the length of time he worked for them.
As far as the family is concerned this is an obvious conflict of interest and so surely it must be in everybody’s interest in this case, including the family and Police officers involved, that this investigation is seen to be as independent as possible.”
Nadeem died after being arrested by officers in Brierfield on Saturday June 30. His family have since asked for anyone who saw him being arrested or whilst he was in custody at Burnley Police Station to come forward with information.
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