Gavin Brown

Gavin Brown died eight days after being restrained outside The Melville Hotel in Stretford following an altercation on 12 April 2019.

His inquest stated that he died unlawfully but the Crown Prosecution Service said that there was not enough evidence to charge anyone.

Following the incident he was taken to Salford Royal Hospital where he was kept in an induced coma but he later suffered a cardiac arrest and died from brain damage.

It was said that he had been held down for at least six minutes and 19 seconds, without any checks on his welfare, and that the restraint led to irreversible hypoxic ischemic brain injury.

Gavin Brown had earlier been drinking at the Head bar in Stretford after which he had gone by taxi with a friend to Derbyshire Avenue at 8.15pm where he became involved in the altercation outside The Melville Hotel. He was said to have thrown punches at a bouncer there and that another of the staff had then brought Gavin Brown down to the ground. After that a couple of other people helped to restrain him until the police arrived, holding him in a chokehold position with his chin pressed against his chest.

However, one of the men that had helped restrain him declined to answer why he didn't stop to check if he was breathing.

When the police arrived they found Gavin Brown deeply unconscious and he was rushed to hospital.

The inquest heard that Greater Manchester Police recommended four people for charges in connection with Gavin Brown’s death, but the Crown Prosecution Service said it didn’t have enough evidence to go to trial.

However, his inquest returned a verdict of Unlawful killing.

Gavin Brown was noted as having had paranoid schizophrenia, however, his social worker and a mental health doctor said that they had not been unduly concerned about his state of mind at the time of the incident.