Dad restrained by police before death

An inquest heard Robert Gracey had earlier banged on the window of Gainsborough Police Station

The wife of a man who died while in police custody told an inquest it was "heartbreaking" that he was subjected to violence in the last hour of his life.

Robert Gracey, 39, of Morton Terrace, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, died in the early hours of 29 September 2021 at Lincoln County Hospital.

The inquest, being held in Lincoln, heard Mr Gracey had become unresponsive in a police van having earlier been restrained by officers after banging on a police station window.

Coroner Paul Smith told the jury it would hear how Mr Gracey was twice punched in the stomach and twice in the leg by police. Lincolnshire Police officers will give their accounts of events later in the proceedings.

Setting out the evidence at the Myles Cross Centre, Mr Smith said police found Mr Gracey outside of his home in a paranoid and anxious state shortly after 18:00 BST on 27 September.

Mr Gracey was detained by officers and taken to hospital where he apparently told staff he had taken cocaine, the coroner said. He was released from hospital the next morning.

In the early hours of 29 September, Mr Gracey made two 999 calls to police, the inquest heard. Officers went to his home but left after Mr Gracey refused to speak to them.

Mr Smith told jurors Mr Gracey then went to Gainsborough Police station, which is close to his home, and banged on the window. He then shouted before running off, the coroner said.

Mr Gracey was restrained by six officers in a neighbour's garden, Mr Smith added, before being put in a police van wearing handcuffs and leg restraints at about 00:45.

At 01:09, while being taken to hospital, Mr Gracey's handcuffs and leg restraints were removed, jurors heard. Five minutes later, he became unresponsive and officers called for an ambulance.

Mr Smith said at 01:52, he arrived at hospital but was pronounced dead at 02:14.

Christopher Finnigan, who lived with Mr Gracey at the time, told the inquest that two days before he died, Mr Gracey had pulled the oven out of a kitchen unit and wrapped his mobile devices in foil.

He said: "He looked really stressed out and looked like he was going to have a mental breakdown."

On 28 September at 20:00, Mr Finnigan said Mr Gracey came to his room and told him he was struggling with his mental health.

Later that night, Mr Finnigan said he woke up hearing Mr Gracey outside shouting "Richard" - the name of one of his neighbours.

The court heard Mr Finnigan went outside and saw police restraining Mr Gracey. He had told Mr Gracey to calm down, the hearing heard.

"He seemed like he was having a bit of an out of body experience but he wasn't responding to what I was saying to him," Mr Finnigan said.

'We miss him'

The inquest also heard from Mr Gracey's wife, Zoe, who lived with him in Gainsborough before moving to Chelmsford with their two children to be closer to her family.

She said Mr Gracey, who was a car transporter, began struggling with his mental health a few years before his death and said he had seemed "depressed and sad".

Ms Gracey was told by his neighbour at 07:30 on 29 September that her husband had died.

"Rob's death has devastated the whole family. He died just weeks before his 40th birthday," she said.

"It has been heartbreaking to have lost him and to see that in the last hour of his life, police officers had called him all sorts of names and had subjected him to lots of violence.

"The three of us miss him. I've lost a husband and a best friend."

The inquest is expected to last for two weeks.

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