Vulnerable dad froze to death after being released from custody with no money
A vulnerable dad who was found huddled, filthy and freezing behind some bushes by a security guard has died in hospital from hypothermia.
Mark Wilfred Davies, 53, had been sleeping rough on the streets of Leeds after he was released from custody without any money, bank cards or a phone, following an appearance at Leeds magistrates' court.
He was released two weeks before he died and his family feared he had been sleeping rough on the streets of Leeds for all that time while police searched or him in vain.
Mark, who divided his time between Wyke, Bradford, and Rastrick, near Brighouse had once been an 'outgoing' man who had worked as a labourer, an inquest into his death was told.
But he had been plagued by mental health problems, allied with excessive drinking. Mark had been arrested in Bradford and taken to Leeds magistrates' court because it was the only local court sitting on a Saturday, the inquest heard. He was bound over and ordered to pay £50 for a breach of the peace.
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On October 15 2022 he was released from court custody and given a train ticket to Bradford. But on October 16 he failed to board a train at Leeds railway station and was ejected from the station when the final train departed. His family said his anxiety left him terrified of public transport, the inquest heard.
Mark had been released from custody almost two weeks earlier without any money, bank cards or a phone (Yorkshire Live/MEN Media)West Yorkshire Police was notified after Mark was reported missing on October 17. The force initially classed Mark as “medium risk”, later upgrading his case to “high risk”.
Security guard Carl Griffiths came across Mark more than 10 days later on October 28, he was semi-conscious beneath a bay window behind some bushes beside an office block in Toronto Square, Leeds city centre.
A police officer who was called to the scene thought that Mark was already dead at first. He had no shoes on his feet and holes in his socks and he was described as being dirty and 'skinny'.
He was taken to Leeds General Infirmary in an ambulance. On arrival, a medic reported that Mark had the lowest body temperature she had ever seen. Sadly, he could not be saved and his death was confirmed in the early hours of October 31. The cause of his death was recorded as multiple organ failure due to hypothermia.
Mark was found filthy and freezing behind some bushes by a security guard, days after he was reported missing (Yorkshire Live/MEN Media)Mark's cousin Zoe Bannister, who said she had been a good friend to Mark for many years, spoke to the inquest.
She told the court that the decision to take Mark from his home city of Bradford to a court in Leeds had led to his death.
She asked: "When someone is arrested and taken to Bradford, is it normal at weekends to be taken to a different city? To take to Leeds a vulnerable person with mental health issues and just let go with nothing. If he had been kept in Bradford he would still be alive."
The inquest heard from a detective who said CCTV footage appeared to show Mark arriving at the Toronto Square rough sleeping area around 29 hours before he was found by the security guard.
But Zoe questioned this, saying that when Mark was found he had "flies all over him". She said: "(Was he) only there 29 hours and in that state with flies all over him? Where was he for 12 days? Was he in those bushes?"
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