Police watchdog: name Taser death probe cops

At least 11 Greater Manchester officers are the subject of the IPCC inquiry into the death of Jordan Begley, who died after being shot with a stun gun at his home in Gorton, Manchester.

None of the officers has been suspended or arrested, but a coroner has ordered that their names and ranks be kept out of the public domain.

IPCC Commissioner for Greater Manchester, James Dipple-Johnstone, said: “We believe withholding the names of the GMP officers who attended Mr Begley’s home will not help foster public confidence in this process.”

Post-mortem results have so far failed to establish a cause of death for Mr Begley, who worked in an ice cream factory in Levenshulme.

He is the tenth person in the UK in the last nine years to have died after being Tasered, although there’s been no proven link to cause of death.

Greater Manchester Police has stated that Mr Begley “suffered a medical episode” at some point after he was hit with an electric charge on 10 July.

Mr Begley’s family have employed their own pathologist. The family’s solicitor said they too will challenge the blanket ban on reporting names of any officers involved.

Lawyers acting for the police refused to comment when I asked what reasons were put forward when applying for the ban on reporting officers names.This is a worrying trend.

Anonymity orders normally apply to firearms officers on the grounds of their security. For example we have never been able to name the officer who shot Mark Duggan or any of the others who were there.

Now the process is being used for those officers who fire their Tasers. Can this be right?

The number of officers allowed to carry the 50,000-volt stun guns is rising all the time. It currently stands at around nearly 14,000.

And in the Jordan Begley case the coroner agreed to grant the officers anonymity without full and detailed reasons even being submitted.

‘No evidence’ of mistaken identity

Police said on Thursday there was no evidence to suggest Mr Begley was a victim of mistaken identity.

It came after reports that a 25-year-old man with the same name was wanted at the time for recall to prison after he breached the terms of his licence.

The other Jordan Begley, who had previously been jailed for burglary and for his involvement in a prison riot, was rearrested by police on 18 July and sent back to jail.

Assistant Chief Constable Dawn Copley said: “We are aware it has been suggested that these events may have involved a case of mistaken identity, but we are not aware of any evidence to support that suggestion at this time.

“We will, of course, continue to work with the IPCC to assist their investigation.”