The family of a man from Co Kerry, who died after he was forcibly restrained by police officers, was awarded £225,000 (sterling) damages by the High Court in London yesterday.
Mr Richard O'Brien (37), originally from Tralee, died of postural asphyxia after being held down by three police officers who arrested him for being drunk and disorderly outside a function hall in Walworth, south London, in 1994.
In 1995, an inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing against Mr O'Brien, who worked as a market trader and lived in Swansea, in south Wales. The Crown Prosecution Service initially decided not to pursue a case against the three police officers, but after Mr O'Brien's family sought a judicial review, the officers were charged with manslaughter. They were found not guilty at an Old Bailey trial in 1999, but in July 2000 a judge approved an award of damages.
Counsel for Mr O'Brien's partner, Ms Alison O'Brien, told the High Court the police officers had "unlawfully killed" Mr O'Brien by holding him down in a position "which can only be described as dangerous".
He had been at a christening reception at the hall, but was standing in the street when officers were called to a disturbance at the function. When restraining Mr O'Brien, who was 19 stone, officers held him down on the ground for several minutes, restricting his breathing severely as his stomach was pressed against his diaphragm.