THE Burnley sister of an ex-paratrooper who died in police custody today declared "justice is now seen to be done" after a jury returned a verdict he was unlawfully killed.

Five police officers said to have laughed and chatted while Christopher Alder died in a custody suite could now face manslaughter charges.

The sister of Mr Alder, Janet, who lives in the Manchester Road area, has been campaigning for justice since her brother died in April 1998.

After almost seven weeks hearing evidence, including watching a video of the 37-year-old father of two's last 12 minutes in the custody suite at Hull's Queens Gardens Police Station, an inquest jury at Hull Crown Court returned a verdict that Mr Alder was "unlawfully killed."

Today Janet said: "Justice is now seen to be done. It has been a long time coming. There was only one true verdict and I thank the jury for making the right decision. This is just the beginning."

Mr Alder, of Dagger Lane, Old Town, Hull, who was decorated for his service with the Army in Northern Ireland, died with his hands cuffed behind his back and his trousers around his knees on the floor of a police custody suite.

He choked on his own blood and the five officers who were in the suite, Sgt John Dunn, and Constables Mark Ellerington, Nigel Dawson, Matthew Barr and Neil Blakey have already been suspended and charged with misconduct in a public office. On the video seen by the jury, officers are heard saying Mr Alder is "right as rain", and one describes him as "doing a dying swan act" at the hospital.

The officers were questioned at the inquest but all refused to answer questions in case they jeopardised forthcoming trials.The CPS is now reviewing the charges.

Mr Alder had been involved in a scuffle outside a nightclub when he struck his head on the ground. He was later arrested for breach of the peace after he refused to leave hospital grounds.

The jury heard how police "partially dragged, partially carried" Mr Alder into the police station and left him slumped face-down where he died.

A spokesman for the CPS said: "We will be looking at evidence in the inquest and if any new information has come to light we will look at it and review our decision.

"This is normal procedure. We cannot say how long this will take as the inquest itself lasted seven weeks and there is a lot of evidence to consider."

After the verdict was announced, Hull and East Yorkshire coroner Geoffrey Saul said: ''This has been a tense and often highly-charged inquest. Emotions have run high, and none of us will ever forget Christopher Alder."

Immediately after the inquest, Janet led the family and supporters in a one-minute silence on the steps of the court.

She said: "Now at last we can arrange to bury Christopher with the dignity he deserves.

"I am absolutely ecstatic and finding it so hard to put into words how I feel I am totally overwhelmed. The jury was brilliant."

Mark Barlow, from the National Civil Rights Movement added: "We call upon the Government to take a long hard look at the way investigations into deaths in police custody are conducted in this country.

"The present procedure where effectively the police investigate themselves is not acceptable. It is time for an independent body to be established to investigate such deaths."

The inquest was the longest in British history involving a death in police custody and has cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The original jury of six men and three women was reduced after four days when a male juror was discharged for making racist comments. The juror allegedly made offensive remarks about Mr Alder's race and was ordered to leave after two jurors expressed concern.