Pregnant mum died after being found unresponsive in police cell

Claire Harper, 41, was handcuffed and taken into custody after her then partner called police shortly after midnight on January 7, 2018 to say she had assaulted him at their one-bedroom flat on Moorgate Avenue.

At Trafalgar House, West Yorkshire Police’s main Bradford police station on Nelson Street, she was placed in a cell with officers given instructions to check on and rouse her every 30 minutes.

Trafalgar House police station (Image: Newsquest) During this early morning period she told officers that she thought she was pregnant. At around 3.30am she was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary where tests confirmed she was in the early stages of pregnancy.

Around 90 minutes later she was taken back to the police station and returned to her cell where officers were told to carry out observation checks every 30 minutes but with “no requirement” to rouse her.

Ms Harper was offered breakfast and had her fingerprints and a photograph taken at 10.30am.

She was last checked at 11.36am. At 12.26pm she was discovered unresponsive in her cell.

She received CPR and was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary where her death was confirmed just over an hour later at 1.41pm.

The cause of death was later found to be cardiomyopathy.

Claire Harper (Image: Family handout) The inquest at Bradford Coroner’s Court heard how Ms Harper was a heavy drinker whose abuse of alcohol meant she was frequently estranged from her siblings and her seven children.

On the night of her arrest PC Mark Winstanley, who called to what he described as “a domestic argument”, said Ms Harper was known to be an alcoholic and that he had arrested her previously.

He said she was “slurring” her words and that her partner smelt of alcohol.

His colleague PC Joanne Belson, who put Ms Harper under arrest in the kitchen of the upstairs flat, said she “looked ill” and described her as “skinny, pale-faced, [and] unkempt with sunken features”.

She said Ms Harper was “quite calm” and, when asked what had happened, she said: “She said it had been a verbal argument that had got out of hand.”

Her partner said he had been kicked in the stomach but did not want to make a formal statement to the police as he considered the relationship to be at an end.

PC Belson said Ms Harper was “very compliant” but on being cautioned and handcuffed began “screaming and shouting” at her partner, becoming verbally abusive, and telling him that she was pregnant.

She carried on shouting as she was being led to a police van and had to be told to quieten down.

In the van she discussed her pregnancy and children with PC Belson, who described it as “chit-chat” and said: “It was something to keep her calm, to keep her mind off what had happened, and keep her calm during the journey [to Trafalgar House].”

At the police station Ms Harper began retching whilst on a visit to the toilet - which PC Belson took as an indicator that she might be pregnant - and asked to see a nurse.

PC Belson said: “I put it down to morning/afternoon/evening sickness.”

She said she last saw Ms Harper at the custody desk prior to her being taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary: “She said ‘thanks’, and that was it.”

PC Belson told the inquest: “I did not smell alcohol [on Claire’s breath]. I don’t remember her slurring words or being unsteady on her feet.”

The inquest also heard that Ms Harper’s alcoholism had led to social services removing her children and that she had been homeless after starting a fire in a flat when she and her partner were intoxicated.

One witness said: “They were starting fires and saying it was Simon the ghost who started the fires.”

The inquest, chaired by Assistant Coroner Peter Merchant sitting with a jury, is set to run for four weeks and will hear from more than 40 witnesses including police officers and health professionals.