Shane Bryant inquest: Restrainers knelt on robber before his death

Shane Bryant was restrained during a robbery at a Co-Op

A robber who was restrained after a raid on a convenience store was punched and knelt on, an inquest has heard.

Shane Bryant died after he was confronted by a group, including an off-duty officer, who noticed trouble at the shop in Leicestershire in July 2017.

North Leicestershire Coroner's Court heard he was punched on the arm as a "distraction strike" as he resisted.

It also heard kneeling on his shoulders was a police pinning technique.

Mr Bryant was taken ill at the scene and died two days later

The inquest was told that after Mr Bryant, 29, from Birmingham, jumped over a security barrier at the Co-op store in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, a group of people "eventually" got him under control.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, an off-duty police officer at the scene, who was referred to as officer L, said: "From what I recall, he was taken down to the ground by myself, another person [a retired officer] and I think two others.

"He ended up on his stomach.

"My intention was to try and get him under control. That is why he ended up on the ground.

"He was continuing to resist, struggling to pull free and trying to get up."

The court heard how the retired police officer held him in a headlock for "seconds".

The off-duty police officer said he "was concerned" by the headlock.

He said: "While I was restraining his arm, I was aware of the headlock and I requested it was removed and to the best of my knowledge, it was removed."

Shane Bryant was confronted by members of the public from a nearby pub

He said he held Mr Bryant's right arm the vast majority of the time he was restrained.

Assistant coroner Michael Auty QC asked if Mr Bryant being face down was a concern. He said it was to him because "there is a risk of positional asphyxia".

The court also heard during the restraint officer L put his right knee on Mr Bryant's right shoulder while the retired officer kneeled on his left shoulder.

This is a police technique, the court heard, and the officer said not much weight was put on Mr Bryant's shoulder as the weight was taken by the officer's other leg.

He added he checked on Mr Bryant, who he said was struggling throughout the restraint, and "he was breathing normally".

After on-duty police officers arrived at the scene and Mr Bryant was handcuffed, he became unresponsive, the court heard.

The off-duty officer denied he used unlawful or disproportionate force on Mr Bryant.

Family's anger

The inquest had previously heard how Mr Bryant had dragged a female member of staff from the counter at the Co-op store in Ashby-de-la-Zouch just before 22:00 BST.

A group from a nearby pub came to investigate the noise and confronted Mr Bryant, who was holding a baseball bat.

He was then restrained for 17 minutes.

He was taken ill at the scene and was pronounced dead two days later.

His family said in a statement they had "no doubt" he should have been arrested but he "should not have ended up in a coffin".

The inquest continues.