What happened
Les Douthwaite, 38, from Widnes, was in Devon with his brother Colin for a job in Exmouth. On a night out in Paignton in April 2015 they were removed from a pub on the Esplanade, and Les stepped in to protect his brother.
Door staff restrained him and took him to the floor. A police officer then handcuffed his arms behind his back as he lay prone on the ground. CCTV showed him being punched while he was down. He had been talking while lying there. When the officer returned he was unresponsive and his lips were blue. The handcuffs were removed and CPR given before an ambulance arrived. He died from brain stem death in Torbay hospital.
He was a large man, 21 stones, with breathing problems, and wore a breathing mask in bed.
The outcome
At the inquest at Torquay Coroner’s Court, Home Office pathologist Dr Amanda Jeffery said he died from a combination of an enlarged heart, obesity, the restraint position and the strain of the struggle. She called it a “perfect storm” and ruled out the punches to his head.
She concluded that he “died of a hypoxic brain injury after a heart attack during a period of restraint while under the influence of alcohol”. The jury’s narrative verdict found that the manner of restraint and the lack of monitoring contributed. The coroner indicated he might make a prevention of future deaths report.
What went wrong
The failure is not one unlawful act. It is a combination a trainer has to name out loud: a heavy man with an enlarged heart, face down, handcuffed behind his back, after a struggle, having been drinking. Each part raises the risk of the others.
He was talking when he was left. He was not checked until an officer came back to him. Between those points nobody watched his breathing, and the pathologist’s evidence was that the punches mattered less than the position and the strain.
What it teaches
Prone handcuffing after a struggle, in a man with cardiac risk factors, is the combination trainers are taught to recognise. The position restricts the chest. The struggle demands oxygen. The heart is already working against disease, and alcohol blunts the signs of distress.
The check fails quietly. A person who has stopped struggling is not necessarily settled, and speech is not proof of an airway. The interval between checks on someone prone and handcuffed has to be short and owned by a named person, ideally not the one holding the cuffs.
Questions for the room
- He was talking when he was left. How often should a prone, handcuffed person be checked, and who decides?
- You are the officer who returns. What do you see first, and what do you do before you touch the cuffs?
- Nobody had recorded his weight or breathing problems before that night. Whose job was that, and when?
Evidence and limits
Confidence: probable. One source was available, the Liverpool Echo’s report of the inquest, and the record rests on it.
The day the verdict was returned is not fixed: the Echo reported on 6 December 2016 that the inquest had opened, and the record cites a report of 9 December 2016 carrying the verdict. No date of death is given beyond April 2015, no prevention of future deaths report appears on the coroner’s register, and no inquisition was traced.
The record’s own fields disagree: its legal outcome field says the conclusion is not recorded, while its proceedings note describes the narrative verdict. This entry follows the précis and the proceedings note, and flags it.
Our physical interventions training covers restraint positions and the monitoring that has to follow them.
Sources
- Liverpool Echo, Widnes dad restrained, punched and handcuffed on floor before death, inquest hears · 6 December 2016
- Liverpool Echo, Widnes man died after being restrained following fight outside pub · 9 December 2016
Reviewed 20 October 2026.