Jury hears first day of evidence on death of man, 25, after being restrained by officers

A man who died after he was restrained and pepper-sprayed by police two years ago was linked by police at the inquest into his death with a gang selling heroin and crack cocaine.

Edir da Costa, a 25-year-old father of one, became unresponsive after police used handcuffs and CS spray as they restrained him face down in the street during a traffic stop in Beckton, east London, on 15 June 2017.

Paramedics attempting to resuscitate him retrieved a plastic bag containing wraps of drugs from his airway. He was taken to hospital and placed in intensive care but died six days later.

On the first day of evidence at the inquest on Wednesday, the coroner, Nadia Persaud, read out police intelligence reports prepared after the death of Da Costa, who was also known as Edson, that claimed he was linked to a gang in the Newham area known to police as the “Portuguese Mafia”.

According to the statements, the Metropolitan police believed that the gang, which hung around a local McDonald’s, was involved in the sale of crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis via a hotline number, and included members with a range of convictions including possession of a firearm. The force had been in the midst of an intelligence-led operation against the gang when they stopped Da Costa.

Police said they had intelligence of several incidents linking Da Costa to the gang between 2011 and 2014, and another in 2017 when police attempted to stop a vehicle they suspected was linked to drug dealing but were unable to detain its occupant. Inside the vehicle they found a 12-inch knife, a balaclava, a quantity of cannabis, and Portuguese ID in Da Costa’s name.

During the incident that led to Da Costa’s death, among the passengers of the car stopped by police was Claude Greenaway, who is due to give evidence to the inquest on Thursday.

Da Costa’s father, Ginario Da Costa, painted a different picture of his son, who was born in Lisbon, Portugal, and had moved to London from Guinea-Bissau to be closer to his uncle, a professional footballer with Sporting Lisbon.

After Da Costa’s parents split, his father moved with him when he was five to London, to improve his educational opportunities. Ginario Da Costa said his son had done well, gaining seven GCSEs and winning awards for football coaching, before briefly falling in with a bad crowd in his later teenage years and getting arrested several times, culminating in an 18-month sentence at a young offender institution for offences during the London riots.

After his jail sentence, Da Costa became a car dealer, refurbishing and reselling cars, and met the mother of his child, who his father said had been a positive influence. His son was born in 2014. “Fatherhood came very naturally to him and he and his son were inseparable,” Ginario da Costa said. “Edson is gone now, but he has left us all with a special gift in his son.”

The first evidence came a day late after extensive legal arguments and complications with jurors. There was surprise among observers at the swearing-in on Tuesday when the coroner asked each juror to declare whether they or any family members had been “involved in any campaign groups such as Black Lives Matter”.

A representative of Inquest, which supports the families of people who die in custody or after police interaction, said she believed it was the first time that such a question had been used to screen jurors.

The inquest is due to last four weeks and is due to hear from more than 40 witnesses.