A police custody support officer was fairly sacked for not checking on a suicidal man who died in the cells at Dunfermline Police Station.
Amanda Bettley was summarily dismissed for gross misconduct by Fife Council after the episode involving James Bell in June 2011.
He was found walking on the M90 at 5.30am on June 5 after discharging himself from hospital, where he had been taken for treatment after a methadone overdose. Police detected alcohol on his breath, considered him unsteady on his feet and sleepy, and arrested him for being drunk and incapable.
They took him to Dunfermline Police Station where, in a vulnerability assessment, it was ascertained he had suicidal tendencies. Because of his drug taking and asthma, he was categorised a special risk prisoner and put into a cell with the instruction that staff should check and rouse him every 30 minutes.
Bettley, of Hill Road, Kennoway, was joined on duty by a male colleague, and at 6pm he went round with the prisoners’ meals. He entered Mr Bell’s cell and found him dead.
It was discovered that Bettley had made only spyhole visits to the cell and there was no evidence that she had gone in to rouse Bell every half hour.
During an investigation she claimed she had not been told at the handover stage that she should rouse him every 30 minutes.
Despite this, Bettley was found guilty of gross misconduct and dismissed in March 2012 having worked continuously to that date without being suspended, She appealed against the decision but was unsuccessful.
Tribunal judge Ian McFatridge said it was regrettable she had not received full training for her post but there were certain things she had not done which were issues of common sense.
He ruled that her dismissal was procedurally fair and was within the bounds of reasonable responses open to her employer.