Custody nurse on manslaughter trial expresses regret over detainee's death at Old Bailey
Sean Cregg accused of gross negligence in the death of William Cameron
A custody nurse accused of leaving a detainee to die in a police cell believing he was faking it has told jurors: “I wish I had done more.”
Sean Cregg, 37, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of the gross negligence manslaughter of 38-year-old William Cameron.
Mr Cameron collapsed and fell unconscious as he was arrested in Reading town centre early on January 8 2020 and suffered a fatal drug and alcohol-induced heart attack in a cell at Loddon Valley police station.
Cregg had examined Mr Cameron in his cell and squeezed his trapezius muscles to which he groaned, giving a P – or pain – response, the court heard.
Giving evidence, the defendant said he also found Mr Cameron was breathing, reacted to light, had a strong pulse and good colour.
The nurse, who trained in his home city of Dublin before coming to the UK for work, was asked if he thought his examination of Mr Cameron had been sufficient.
He said: “I absolutely accept I should have taken more observations, been more thorough. At that time I truly believed he was OK.”
Prosecutor Zoe Johnson KC asked: “You are accepting your examination was insufficient?”
Cregg said: “In hindsight, I wish I had done more.
“I believed he was being obstructive. If I felt he was unwell I would absolutely have sent him to hospital.”
The defendant told jurors he used the information he had gleaned about Mr Cameron to “build a picture” but he agreed it did not explain why he was not walking or talking at that time.
Ms Johnson asserted: “You came to the conclusion he was being obstructive early on before you carried out the full gamut of tests available to you.
“The other test was the trapezius squeeze and a reading of P on that scale. You told the jury that as far as you were concerned a P in custody was a reassuring sign.”
Cregg replied: “It can be, yes.”
He also agreed that in a hospital setting a “P” response would be a far from reassuring sign and would trigger concern.
Ms Johnson suggested that as a healthcare professional, having a different clinical assessment depending on whether the patient was in hospital or custody was “extremely dangerous”.
She said: “You are suggesting that because that P was in custody and you have been told that this man collapsed on arrest you determined it was not a worrying sign.”
Cregg told jurors that it was important to consider the history of the situation.
He explained that in his experience, there had been many occasions when someone had “pretended to be unconscious”, given a P response and then would be “jumping up and down” in their cell.
Ms Johnson said: “What Mr Cameron never did that night was jump up, kick the door, and ask for a cup of tea.”
She went on: “It’s a basic tenet of medicine you have to treat the patient in front of you. It would be negligent to say to yourself I have a lot of experience of people faking so I’m not going to treat the individual in front of me.
“You have to treat each patient in front of you with respect and dignity.
“Getting a P does not negate the fact Mr Cameron was not walking or talking.”
Cregg told jurors that he believed that Mr Cameron had been walking and talking before being taken into custody.
Ms Johnson said: “But the man in front of you was not. The man in front of you gave the most basic response to the trapezius squeeze and you decided he was faking.”
Cregg replied: “I did.”
Ms Johnson asked how the defendant came to the conclusion Mr Cameron was “faking” it based on his observations.
Cregg said he had “trusted” the police officers and took what they told him at “face value”.
He added: “Based on the observations I did take, I genuinely thought he was drunk and that was probably compounded by all the other detainees I had seen in custody.”
Mr Cameron’s sudden collapse before being taken into custody was not consistent with alcohol but was consistent with “being obstructive”, he said.
Ms Johnson suggested that Cregg’s comment to an police officer that Mr Cameron “had something nice”, was a clear reference to drugs.
He denied it, saying he was talking about alcohol.
Cregg, of Newbury in Berkshire, who worked for Mountain Healthcare agency, denies gross negligence manslaughter and an alternative offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
The Old Bailey trial before Mrs Justice Thornton continues.