Raymond Moran

Raymond Moran died whilst in custody at Southport police station on 23 January 1986.

Raymond Moran had lived in Portland Street, Southport.

He had been arrested with three other people on suspicion of theft.

The incident had happened after Raymond Moran and three friends went out on the January evening to have a good time. After visiting a number of Southport pubs they made their way to the Academy Club nightspot in Neville Street. Whilst there a girl complained to the manager that her library tickets, housekeys and a small amount of cash had been stolen from her handbag. Raymond Moran and his friends were suspected of the theft and asked to leave. However, the police had been called and the girl pointed Raymond Moran and his friends out to them in a nearby fish and chip shop.

One of Raymond Moran's friends was then found by the police to have the girl's property on him and they were all arrested and taken by van to Southport police station. Then, as they got out, Raymond Moran was punched and collapsed to the ground in an apparent fit, and died soon after.

It was said that he was involved in a struggle with one or more policemen, which resulted in him choking to death on his own vomit.

However, his friends who were arrested along with him said that they saw Raymond Moran being kicked and punched by up to six officers at the rear of the station. However, the police denied the allegations.

One police officer admitted having hit Raymond Moran twice, but said that that had been in self-defence after being attacked.

Four other key police officers denied having hit Raymond Moran.

A police sergeant told the inquest that he fought to save Raymond Moran's life after he saw him lying on the floor at the police station with his face turning blue, stating that he gave him the kiss of life and then telephoned for an ambulance.

Raymond Moran was taken to Southport Infirmary, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

His post mortem revealed that he died after choking on his own vomit.

Another police sergeant said that at no time did any of the other teenagers arrested alongside Raymond Moran indicate to them that Raymond Moran had been beaten up by police officers, despite later claims that they had witnessed him being attacked.

The solicitor for Raymond Moran's family submitted that Raymond Moran had suffered a vicious beating by police officers in order to teach him a lesson, after he gave cheek in the back of a police van when he had been arrested on suspicion of theft.

His inquest returned a verdict of misadventure, however, his parents asked a High Court judge to quash the verdict, calling it a disgrace and asking for another inquest to be held.

It was heard that the jury had been given the following options to choose from at the inquest:

1. Unlawful killing.
2. Open.
3. Natural causes.
4. Misadventure/accidental death.

The jury spent an hour considering their verdict, following an eight day hearing at Whiston Coroner's Court.

When the Coroner summed up, he had told the jury that if they returned a verdict of unlawful killing:

He then told the jury that if they were to return a verdict of misadventure/accidental death they would have to feel that he had met his death by an occurrence which:

The Coroner then added:

When the verdict was announced, Raymond Moran's mother broke down sobbing and screamed:

She then stormed out of the Coroner's Court where she pledged to fight on to prove that the police did beat her son up and have the verdict overturned.

She said:

As one of Raymond Moran's brothers left the court, he shouted at the Coroner:

When the Coroner offered them his sympathies, the brother replied:

Her solicitor then said that they would be applying to the High Court for a judicial review, adding:

However, the police said that justice had been done.

The chairman of Merseyside Police Federation said:

Following Raymond Moran's death, it was reported that although a massive inquiry was launched by the police, many people had already decided who was to blame and poured out their anger on the streets of Southport in a week of fury. In one incident a gang of youths smashed shop windows near the Ainsdale home of Raymond Moran's family, forcing the police to close the road. In another flare-up, police in full riot gear had to be drafted in as officers were showered with bricks and bottles at the town's soccer ground.

It was reported that although feelings eventually cooled, it wasn't the last time that Raymond Moran's violent death was the trigger for more violence. In August, Raymond Moran's best friend was jailed for two years after he bit a chunk out of a woman police officer's face. At his trial, it was heard that his hatred for the police had built up inside of him until he eventually went berserk.

Raymond Moran's mother, who was Irish, admitted that Raymond Moran was no angel, noting that he had served a 9-month borstal sentence for theft at the age of 15, and that he had tangled with the law on more than one occasion.

She said that the first she heard of the incident was when the father of one of Raymond Moran's friends called to see her and told her that his son had called him from Southport police station and told him that Raymond Moran had collapsed and the police were trying to give him the kiss of life. She said that he then told her to ring Southport infirmary, and when she finally got through to a sister, the sister paused for a bit and asked her whether she was alone and then said:

Raymond Moran's mother said she replied:

And the sister repeated what she said. She said that she then just turned round and screamed:

She said that she then went to the hospital where she was told that he had got into a scuffle with the police as he was getting out of a police van and that he had apparently had an epileptic fit. She was then taken to the chapel of rest to see his body and saw him in a little room lying on a stretcher with his head to one side and his eyes and mouth half open looking at them.

She later said: