Sergeant 'harsh' but not racist bully - inquest

Anugrah Abraham died in March 2023

A trainee police officer said he did not believe his sergeant was a bullying racist and thought he was struggling because he was not cut out to be an officer, an inquest heard.

Anugrah Abraham, from Bury in Greater Manchester, feared the sack and had suffered nightmares, the inquest into his death at Rochdale Coroner's Court heard.

The 21-year-old, who was known as Anu to his friends and family, was a student at Leeds Trinity University and was training to become a police officer in Halifax at the time of his death in March 2023.

His father claimed he suffered bullying and racism while a trainee, which is not accepted by West Yorkshire Police (WYP).

The inquest has heard Mr Abraham was struggling under the pressure of working full-time as a trainee PC while also doing a degree apprenticeship at Leeds Trinity.

While there were "no concerns" around his academic work, he had been put on a development programme for his practical competence as a police trainee.

Lyn Farrell, his university progress tutor, told the hearing about a Teams meeting with Mr Abraham on 19 January last year, two months before his death, when he told her he no longer wanted to be a police officer.

"He felt he was not the right type of person in a police officer role, to do with him having a sheltered upbringing," she said.

Mr Abraham told her things he was asked to deal with had come as a shock and he had been "pulled up" about being "the last person out of the car" when called to incidents.

"He was exactly the sort of officer that was advertised that they wanted. He was articulate, intelligent, polite and lovely," she said.

She said she only dealt with Mr Abraham's academic work and never met his police sergeant or day-to-day work colleagues, and did not know he was on a development programme.

She was not told Mr Abraham had been referred to his work's occupational health after having thoughts of self-harm and suicide - which he had never mentioned to her.

"I'm astonished that has not been fed back to the university," Ms Farrell said.

"That's the first time I'm hearing that. That was never communicated to me."

Mr Abraham, known as Anu to his family and friends, told his tutor he did not wish to be a police officer any more

Mr Abraham was found dead in woodland near his home on 4 March last year, the same day he was due back at work after a two-week break.

Hugh Davies KC, representing WYP, cited a statement Ms Farrell made, where she detailed asking Mr Abraham directly if his sergeant was bullying him or racist.

Mr Abraham told her he did not think so, that his training style was "harsh" but he was the same with everybody.

Before the degree apprenticeship recruitment scheme, entry did not require a university qualification and police recruitment targeted people with experience and useful "life skills", the inquest heard.

Currently there was a "massive problem" that many police officers were younger than historically, and they were being managed by inexperienced officers, the hearing was told, with big increases in officers requesting welfare support and elevated drop-out rates among degree apprenticeship recruits.

The force has since massively cut the numbers recruited through the degree pathway.

The hearing continues.

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