Man arrested by police in Exeter dies in hospital

A man arrrested by police in Exeter earlier this month has died in hospital.

The coroner will now hold a postmortem and The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the incident.

Thomas Orchard was detained following a disturbance in the city centre on October 3.

IPCC Commissioner Amerdeep Somal said: “This is very sad news and I extend my condolences to Mr Orchard’s family and friends. We will arrange to meet with his family again when they are ready. We will, of course, keep them informed of the progress of our investigation.

“I want to thank the many members of the public who have already come forward in response to the IPCC witness appeal last week. We have already taken a large number of statements and viewed CCTV footage.

“We also really want to talk to an Asian man, aged about 30 years, who was carrying bags of coins and was involved in a confrontation with Mr Orchard. I want to reassure him that he is not in any trouble but may have vital information to assist our investigation. He can contact us by telephone or email and one of our investigators will arrange to speak to him.”

The IPCC will investigate Mr Orchard’s death and prepare an investigation report for the coroner. A Home Office pathologist will carry out a post mortem in the next few days.

Witnesses can contact the IPCC in confidence on 0800-096-9077 or email exeter@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk