Man died after being released on bail (From Swindon Advertiser)

Man died after being released on bail

10:40pm Tuesday 1st December 2009

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A MENTALLY ill man, arrested for beating his wife died under the wheels of a lorry just hours after being released on bail, an inquest heard yesterday.

Michael Spencer’s widow told Oxford Coroner’s Court she had already warned police her 39-year-old husband “might do something silly” but says she was met with indifference.

Less than two hours after the Freshbrook resident was let out of police cells he was found dead.

Five officers were reprimanded for the incident in July 2006. Officers were forced to refer Mr Spencer's death to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is yet to release the findings of their investigation.

Oxfordshire Coroner Nicholas Gardiner heard that the father-of-two was charged with common assault on July 16, 2006, after he repeatedly punched wife Wendy in the early hours of the morning.

Mr Spencer, of Grantham Close, was arrested minutes after the violent attack when he called police and told them what he had done.

Depressed Mr Spencer was released from Gablecross Police Station at just after 2pm and died at about 3.45pm less than three miles away.

Mrs Spencer said in her statement: “I fully explained his medical history – particularly that he had threatened to run out in front of a lorry and kill himself. I was concerned he might do something silly.”

The statement went on to say the officer who interviewed her was “a bit dismissive” of this.

She said: “Sometime around 2pm I had a phone call from the officer who took my statement saying he had been released. I asked him where Michael had gone, he said he didn’t know. I was quite surprised at this.”

Officers arrived on her doorstep to break the news that her husband was dead.

Mr Spencer was known to be suffering from depression and his wife said he had made a previous attempt to take his own life by overdosing on painkillers.

The coroner heard how trouble flared between the couple over a text message she had received on her mobile phone.

Mr Spencer was said to have smashed the phone against a wall before punching her to the face, cheek and back of the head.

The statement added: “Michael then came up to me and said ‘I’ve got help, the police are coming’. I was scared I did not know what was going to happen next.”

The IPCC has finished a report into Mr Spencer’s death but it is yet to be released.

The inquest continues.

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