A FURTHER post mortem examination is to be carried out on former paratrooper Christopher Alder who died in police custody.

His sister Janet, from the Manchester Road area of Burnley, is hoping the independent analysis will finally confirm how her brother died so that she can arrange his funeral.

Five police officers from Hull who were on duty when Christopher died have been suspended and a file on the incident has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

A report from Home Office pathologist Dr John Chalmers Clark concluded there was no "single, clearly identifiable cause of death" and that possibly several factors came together to contribute to it.

He described how Christopher, 37, had been for a night out in Hull and had been involved in a fight outside a nightclub and was taken to hospital.

After treatment, the report says Christopher walked into a police van, but after the two-minute journey he "appeared to be asleep" and was dragged, head first, into the police station.

Dr Clark says Christopher was brought into the charge room and left face down on the floor for 10 minutes until officers noted he had become quiet and was no longer breathing.

They administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and an ambulance crew spent 36 minutes trying to revive him.

He says: "He collapsed because of something which happened in the van, while his actual death in the police station may or may not have been contributed to by additional factors acting there. "Had he received immediate attention, then there is certainly a possibility that his death could have been prevented."

He gives the cause of death as undetermined, probably multi-factorial.

Janet said: "I have appointed a solicitor who is currently seeking an independent pathologist to carry out a further post mortem examination.

"I am still waiting for a inquest to be held and my brother to be buried."

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