Woman who took own life traumatised by police raid

Cherry Turner died in 2022 months after armed police mistakenly raided her home

A woman took her own life after she was left traumatised when armed police mistakenly raided her home, an inquest has concluded.

The jury at South Tyneside Coroner's Court found 31-year-old Cherry Turner died "as a consequence of the ordeal after experiencing extreme trauma" after witnessing the harrowing event.

She died on 1 July 2022, months after Northumbria Police carried out the raid on her Newcastle home "in error" and incorrectly arrested the wrong man, her partner, Craig Jackson.

Speaking after the inquest, her father David Turner said their family had been living "a life sentence of pain".

Her family said their "happy, positive and popular daughter" never had any mental health issues or involvement with the police before the raid.

But her mental health deteriorated, she became distressed, struggled to sleep and began to fear the police, who she believed were bugging her home, the court heard.

A spokesperson for Northumbria Police said following the raid "we conducted an investigation and apologised to Cherry's family and Craig Jackson for failings identified".

"We will now take time to carefully consider the findings of the inquest."

Wrong man

Officers arrived at her Newcastle home on 12 December 2021.

Describing the raid in a statement, Mr Jackson said: "I saw green dots reflecting from the wall from the armed police, dogs were barking, sirens were blaring and I was pinned to the ground."

The inquest heard the police quickly realised they had arrested the wrong man, but it took them two months to notify the couple that Mr Jackson was no longer under investigation.

Her brother-in-law Jake Mottram said: "The police knew they'd got the wrong man the next day and should have put it right there and then.

"If they had, Cherry's mental health would not have deteriorated.''

Mr Turner said: "It's so hard every day. You think of it, I would say 50, 60 times a day, you're thinking: 'what's happened about Cherry' and the sad loss, you know, we're never going to see her again."

Cherry Turner's father David (left) and brother-in-law Jake Mottram (right) said they were living in pain

On Friday, an inquest jury concluded Ms Turner died as a consequence of the arrest of her partner Craig Jackson, adding: "From this event she experienced extreme trauma and developed anxiety disorder."

In its written conclusion, the jury noted that multiple opportunities were missed to bring a close to the ordeal and said it was surprised no policy existed to support victims of wrongful arrest.