As far as I can tell, the tragic death of 60yr old Mr Michael Thompson in March 2016 was not widely covered by the media. An inquest in Southwark in 2017 returned a verdict that Mr Thompson had died an accidental death after he set fire to his own property whilst in mental health crisis at home. He died from the effects of smoke inhalation, bringing on a cardiac arrest, contributed to by his mental health crisis meaning he was unlikely to have understood what he was doing in setting the fire. It’s all kinds of tragic on its own, but in the 18hrs or so prior to the Fire Service pulling Mr Thompson from the building and beginning CPR, there was contact by the police and ambulance services and this was examined at the inquest. The court considered what powers, if any, may have been available to police and paramedics on scene the previous evening after Mr Thompson’s family had called 999 hoping somebody, somewhere could do something. This followed attempts to engage a GP or MH team, given previous mental health problems in...
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