This is the shocking moment a mentally-ill churchgoer was bound in handcuffs and leg restraints before being left motionless in a jail cell when police strapped a belt across his face, a court heard.

Schizophrenic Thomas Orchard was put in restraints and had an 'emergency response belt' put across his mouth after being arrested by seven police officers following a public order incident.

Shocking CCTV footage released today shows the 32-year-old being left motionless on the floor of a police cell at Heavitree Road Police Station in Exeter, Devon, after the arrest in October 2012.

The 'gentle' church caretaker suffered a cardiac arrest 12 minutes later after being starved of oxygen and died a week later in hospital from brain damage and asphyxia, the court heard.

This is the shocking moment mentally-ill churchgoer Thomas Orchard was bound in handcuffs and leg restraints before being left motionless in a jail cell when police strapped a belt across his face, a court heard

CCTV footage released today shows Mr Orchard him being carried face-down in the 'emergency response belt', before being dropped and left motionless on the floor of his police cell at Heavitree Police Station, Exeter

Harrowing CCTV footage shows Mr Orchard lying motionless on the floor of his cell after being arrested by police. He suffered a cardiac arrest 12 minutes after being detained and died a week later from brain damage

Experienced custody sergeant Jan Kingshott, 44, and civilian detention officers Simon Tansley, 38, and Michael Marsden, 55, are now on trial accused of unlawfully killing the 'placid and quiet' man.

The trio, from Devon and Cornwall Police, also face accusations of gross negligence manslaughter. They all deny the charges.

Dramatic CCTV footage of Mr Orchard's treatment in police custody was shown to the jury when the case was opened in court last month, but only released today following a challenge by the press.

When played in court for the first time, the video reduced onlookers in the public gallery to tears.

A legal battle to secure the release of the footage was fought by a number of newspaper groups including Associated Newspapers – publishers of the Daily Mail.

Judge Mr Justice King, ruling the images could be released, warned the jury: 'Don't take any notice of what anyone else may think about this case.'

The series of videos show the moments Mr Orchard was arrested in Exeter city centre over a public order incident, marched from the van into the station in restraints, and carried around the station.

One harrowing piece of footage shows him being carried face-down in the 'emergency response belt', before being dropped and left motionless on a thin mattress on the floor of his police cell.

The final video shows him surrounded by officers and police staff who are holding him face down on the floor, before they finally remove the 'emergency response belt' and leave the custody cell.

The belt was put across his mouth and nose for five minutes while he was in a prone position, interfering with his breathing, a jury at Bristol Crown Court was told.

Church caretaker Mr Orchard (left), a schizophrenic, suffered a cardiac arrest 12 minutes after being left by police and died a week later from brain damage and asphyxia. Right: His mother Alison and brother Jack

The family of Thomas Orchard arrive at Bristol Crown Court for the ongoing manslaughter trial of custody sergeant Jan Kingshott, 44, and civilian detention officers Simon Tansley, 38, and Michael Marsden, 55,

Opening the case, prosecuting, Mark Heywood QC said: 'The damage that caused his death had occurred following his arrest by police on suspicion of a public order offence in central Exeter.

'At the roadside he was dealt with by a total of seven police and support officers. He was taken from there on that day, in physical restraints, to the local custody unit.

'There he was dealt with by a total of six trained police officers and detention unit staff, again while in physical restraints throughout.

'In fact, Mr Orchard was ill and suffering from a relapse of his mental illness, of long-standing paranoid schizophrenia.

'Even so, the combination of force and physical restraints used on him on the day of his arrest, coupled, says the prosecution, with a complete failure to enquire and so to realise his true condition and also to observe him closely and directly, led together to him being starved of oxygen to the point of cardio-respiratory arrest.

Experienced custody sergeant Jan Kingshott, 44 (pictured outside Bristol Crown Court) is on trial

'He died because force was used to restrain him, mostly in a prone, face down, position, and in addition a large webbing belt was put across his face in the course of those events.

'Together - you may think obviously - these things interfered with his ability to breathe.

'The situation continued for over five minutes deep within a police station, while he was bound.

'At the same time, no one of those directly responsible took sufficient care to see that he was breathing properly - or even perhaps at all towards the end of those events.

'Instead, he was left in a locked cell, under more remote observation for a further twelve minutes until his true condition was discovered.

'By then, it was too late.'

The lawyer told jurors the three defendants were ‘directly responsible’ for Mr Orchard’s detention in custody, for ‘implementing and directing’ the force that was used, and for applying the belt.

He added: 'The Crown says that by those actions unlawfully caused his death.

'Each of them denies that what he individually did, or did together, was unlawful and that any unlawful action of his resulted in Mr Orchard's death.'

However, they say they used the belt proportionately and as they had been trained to because Mr Orchard was threatening to bite them.

But Mr Orchard’s mother Alison has previously told the court she had never seen her son bite, and had not seen him have a ‘tantrum’ for a decade.

Bristol Crown Court heard 'placid and quiet' Mr Orchard had suffered with mental health issues since his teenage years.

He was admitted for mental health care in hospital five times between 2004 and 2009, and at the time of his death was living in supported housing in Exeter.

On the day of his arrest on October 3, his health had deteriorated, and after going to church for communion he attacked a man in the city centre.

After 999 calls were made, seven officers - none of them on trial - were involved in his arrest for allegedly using threatening words or behaviour, the jury heard.

Witnesses said he was attempting to bite the officers, and the jury saw CCTV of him being forced to the ground, put in restraints, and carried to a van.

Mr Heywood QC added: 'Four [officers] are involved.

'He was picked up and carried in that way but one of them stood at his head and held it in both his hands in what is the classic preferred trained for movement of someone of this kind.

'It makes a lot of sense. It is simple and usually used, and above all trained as a technique. The question arises why it was not used later.'

Civilian detention officers Simon Tansley, 38 (right), and Michael Marsden, 55 (left), are on trial at Bristol Crown Court accused of unlawful act manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter. They deny the charges

Mr Orchard arrived at Heavitree Road Police Station at around 11.18am, where 'experienced' custody sergeant Kingshott was in charge.

Mr Heywood said Mr Orchard remained in restraints for a total of 22 minutes and had the belt over his face for a 'significant part of the time'.

The court heard Mr Orchard called out 'let me go' or 'let go' seven times during his restraint.

Marsden, who held the belt on Mr Orchard's face for three minutes, said this was typical behaviour of violent detainees. 'To me it was just noise,' he told the jury. 'I just remember someone shouting.'

Marsden said he did not have concerns when the belt was applied to Mr Orchard's face, adding: 'We had been given a piece of equipment and trained to use that piece of equipment in a certain set of circumstances.

'Those circumstances arose on that day. We did what we had been trained to do with someone who had been making constant threats from start to finish to bite.'

He said Mr Orchard 'appeared fine' after he removed the ERB and was left in the cell. Minutes later, Marsden returned to the cell and looked through to see Mr Orchard.

'I wasn't concerned when I left the cell, I wasn't concerned when I went back,' he told the jury.

'I saw him breathing, I saw his shoulders moving. He seemed to be settling down and making himself comfortable.'

Marsden raised the alarm after returning to the cell for a second time, the court heard.

CCTV footage shows Mr Orchard being arrested in Exeter city centre and detained on the floor by officers

Officers are seen carrying Mr Orchard into a police van after he was arrested following a public order offence

Mr Heywood told the court that Mr Orchard died in hospital on October 10, 2012.

He said: 'For a significant part of the restraint time at the custody unit he had a webbing belt, known by its full names as an Emergency Response Belt, applied over the whole of or part of his face, including at times - perhaps the majority of that - on his nose and mouth.

'Once released from restraint in the cell he made little or no movement. When the cell was entered 12 minutes later, he was in cardiac arrest.

'Although cardiac function and respiratory effort were restored by advanced intervention, he died in hospital.

'The cause of death was given as severe hypoxic-ischaemic brain damage, prolonged cardiorespiratory arrest following a violent struggle and period of physical restraint including a prolonged period in a prone position and the application of an Emergency Response Belt across the face resulting in asphyxia.'

The trial continues.

'EMERGENCY BELT' THAT WAS ACROSS HIS FACE FOR FIVE MINUTES Police usually use emergency response belts on a person’s chest, midriff or thighs, jurors have been told. Prosecutor Mark Heywood QC said they could also be used as a ‘shroud’, but should not be used on someone’s head as a ‘mechanism of securing or control’. But he said the belt was put around Mr Orchard’s face before he was carried into a police cell and left for almost five minutes – all the time with the belt around his face. Officers said the belt was used correctly, claiming Mr Orchard was threatening to bite them. The webbing strap and 'emergency response belt' police officers used to restrain schizophrenic Mr Orchard Advertisement

The custody suite where Thomas Orchard died. This photo shows the debris in the cell after police and paramedics tried to revive him. He suffered a cardiac arrest 12 minutes after the arrest and died a week later