Sister of Henry Hicks, who died in a moped crash in 2014, brands decision by chair of disciplinary panel as ‘cruel’

A woman whose 18-year-old brother died following a police chase has called a decision to bar her and her family from a police misconduct hearing of the four officers involved in the death as cruel.

The officers, who were involved in the fatal pursuit of Islington carpenter Henry Hicks in December 2014, are all facing gross misconduct proceedings at a police disciplinary hearing, which opens on Tuesday.

Hicks died after his moped crashed while he was trying to get away from police pursuing him in unmarked cars. An inquest jury returned a critical narrative conclusion in June 2016. They found that Hicks’s attempts to avoid the police had contributed to his death.

Police said they were chasing him because they believed he was a drug dealer. On the night he died, Hicks was found to have been carrying seven bags of skunk cannabis worth £70-£140, £230 in cash and three mobile phones.

Hicks’s family believed they would be able to attend the hearing but the chair of the disciplinary panel has ruled that they cannot because a handful of supporters of a justice campaign organised by the family posted hostile messages about the police on social media soon after his death.

It is thought to be the first time police have banned a family from attending a hearing of this kind. Instead the family have been told they can view proceedings from a separate building via videolink, which means they will not be able to consult with their legal team during proceedings or put questions to the officers through their lawyers.

The officers have been granted anonymity and will give evidence from behind a screen.

Hicks’s sister Claudia condemned the decision and said: “This is cruel, vile and disgusting. I don’t know how they can treat a grieving family like this. They have made out we’re in the wrong but we’re not.”

She added: “We want to be in the room so we are involved with what’s going on. I can’t believe that the Met police would treat a grieving family in this way. We can’t be responsible for social media messages posted by a few of the thousands who support us.

“The decision to bar us from the hearing has left us feeling isolated and excluded. We are the victims yet we are being treated so badly. Until all the legal processes have been resolved we won’t even be able to begin grieving for Henry.”

Deborah Coles, Director of Inquest – a charity concerned with deaths in custody and detention – said: “This is a case of significant public interest. The process for holding police to account must be an open and transparent one. Justice cannot be served if the family are excluded from participating.”

A Met spokeswoman said: “The officers retain anonymity granted during the inquest, having previously received threats via social media against themselves and their families. The family of Henry Hicks will be able to follow the hearing from another room with a live feed.

“Their legal representative will be in the hearing room and the family will be able to pass on questions via this representative to the chair.

“This decision was made by the chair following careful consideration of the circumstances and having heard representations from all parties.”

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which carried out two investigations into the case, expressed “significant concern” over the way police in Islington treated Hicks in the years before his death.

Between the ages of 14 and 17, he was subjected to stop-and-search 89 times but never charged with any criminal offence.

The IPCC said its investigators found the officers conducted a pursuit without authorisation from a senior officer in the control room, they did not consider the risks to Hicks of pursuing him, nor did they consider he may have been a juvenile.

It also found inconsistencies in police records of stop-and-searches carried on him. Investigators identified a breach of MPS policy by officers to record stop and search on 22 occasions.