THE Met Police have been criticised by a jury at the inquest into the death of Woolwich man Paul Coker, who died while in custody.

The 32-year-old collapsed and died in a cell at Plumstead police station in August 2005 after earlier shouting "I can't breathe, you're killing me" as officers detained him.

During the seven-week inquest at Southwark Coroner's Court, the jury heard how police had been called to an argument between Mr Coker and his girlfriend Lucy Chadwick at her home after he had taken cocaine and cannabis.

Her landlord and his sons alerted police to the disturbance and while she sat downstairs Ms Chadwick heard the footsteps of a number of officers go to the room which Mr Coker was refusing to leave.

She then heard him being taken away by officers. The jury today returned a narrative verdict.

A statement from jurors read: "Mr Coker took cocaine on the night of August 5-6 at Waverley Crescent (in Greenwich).

"Police were called because of a domestic disturbance.

"Mr Coker was lawfully arrested and restrained and taken to Plumstead police station where he was later pronounced dead at 6.45am on August 6, 2005."

The cause of death was found to be cocaine intoxication with a variant of excited delirium/acute behavioural disorder.

But the jury also ruled the terms of police training and nature of Mr Coker's symptoms led to a failure by officers to recognise his condition.

The statement continued: "We find there was inadequate pooling of information between police officers and failure to communicate effectively among police officers, designated detention officers (DDO) and forensic medical examiner.

"It is not possible to determine whether the outcome would have been affected.”

It added: "Training provided to police and DDO did not reflect accurately the spectrum of symptoms presented by people suffering from excited delirium/acute behavioural disorder.

"The training over-emphasised the severity of the symptoms to be expected."

The jury also found the doctor did not carry out a timely and adequate assessment of Mr Coker and adequate instructions were not given to police staff by the doctor in respect of the care and observations of Mr Coker both before and after an ambulance was called.

A spokesman for the Met responded to the verdict by saying: "In light of the conclusion of the inquest the Met now wants to take time to reflect on the comments and decisions of the jury.

"The coroner has stated that she intends to write to the commissioner with suggestions arising from the verdict which the Met will consider.

"The Met remains committed to improving the care of all detained persons and to ensuring police officers and staff receive adequate training to help identify all potential life-threatening conditions.

"We once again extend our regrets to Paul's family."