Peter Jones

Peter Keith JONES - determination on 03.02.25 

This  has  been  an  inquest  on  behalf  of  Our  Sovereign  Lord  The  King  by  me,  Mary 
Elizabeth Hassell, Senior Coroner for Inner North London, touching the death of Peter 
Keith Jones who died on 5 November 2022 at Stoke Newington Police Station.  The 
jury has made a narrative determination as follows. 

“Peter Keith Jones died by suicide, by jumping from the hood of a telephone booth 
located inside Stoke Newington Police Station, on 5 November 2022.  The official time 
of death was 18.55 hours.  The official medial cause of death was:  
1a)  traumatic brain and spinal injury. 

Before the incident occurred, from 8.07am that morning, Mr Jones displayed several 
behaviours as evidenced on CCTV. 

•  He attempted to climb the telephone box in the police station. 
•  He wrote a note on brown paper which later matched the suicide note found on 

his person. 

•  He checked the aforementioned note several times. 
•  He  returned to  the  station  after a  cigarette, displaying  behaviours that  would 

have demonstrated stress such as: 
-  rocking backwards and forwards; 
- 
- 

talking to himself; 
limping and hopping. 

We conclude that if those actions had been seen, it is more likely than not that police 
would have taken action and would have prevented his suicide. 

In addition, several police witnesses stated that if they had seen this behaviour they 
would have intervened at that time.  We have observed the following failures that have 
materially contributed to Mr Jones’s death. 

•  Without  the  presence  of  a  flat  telephone  hood,  there  would  have  been  no 

means for Mr Jones to take his life in this manner. 

•  Failure  to  have  sufficient  oversight  of  the  public  reception  area  of  Stoke 
Newington Police Station which, if remedied, would have allowed police staff to 
observe Mr Jones’s behaviour, leading to a positive intervention.  This includes 
but is not limited to: 
-  position of CCTV monitors out of the immediate line of sight of office staff in 

- 
- 

the rear office; 
intermittent absence of police staff on the ground floor; 
inadequate police staff stationed in “the box”, which is the area that faces out 
to the public reception area. 

In conclusion, during his time at Stoke Newington Police Station, the CCTV shows that 
Mr Jones displayed sufficient behaviours to indicate that he was an immediate danger 
to himself which, if seen by police staff, would have resulted in action that probably 
would  have  prevented  his  death  -  in  particular  his  earlier  attempt  to  climb  onto  the 
telephone booth hood.” 

I intend to make a prevention of future deaths report.

METROPOLITAN
POLICE

By e-mail only

Ms E Hassell
Senior Coroner
East London
St Pancras Coroner's Court
Carnley Street
London N1C 4PP

Deputy Assistant Commissioner
Metropolitan Police Service
New Scotland Yard
Victoria Embankment
London
SW1A 2JL

Email:

03 April 2025 ,

Dear Ms Hassell,

On behalf of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis,
I write to provide the response to the matters of
concern addressed to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in your Report to Prevent Future Deaths dated
4" February 2025 following the inquest into the tragic death of Peter Jones.

On behalf of the MPS, may I first of all express my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr Jones,
our thoughts and sympathies are very much with them.

The MPS has acknowledged and reviewed all the matters of concern raised in your Regulation 28 Report

and responds as follows .

. The Coroner's "Matters of Concern"

"The jury noted that without the presence of a flat topped telephone hood, there would have been no means
for Mr Jones to take his life in this manner. However, I heard at inquest that the telephone hoods in Stoke
Newington Police Station have been replaced since Mr Jones's death, and the flat kind are nowhere else in

the MPS estate.

The jury also found that there was an MPS failure to have sufficient oversight of the public reception area
from "the box", the area that faces out to the public reception area.

I heard that every police station has a different geographical layout, and that some of these are old buildings.
However, a senior police officer giving evidence did accept that station officers could be positioned in the box
facing out towards the public area, rather than further into the office facing each other".

MPS Response

Following the receipt of this report, a survey into all active front counters across the MPS estate was
commissioned (excluding permanently closed counters and those that are currently under refurbishment),
and a Custody Centre which has a public waiting area but not a front counter area. The scope of the survey

was to:

•

Determine the ability of Public Access Officers (PAOs) to view the general counter and public waiting
areas from both the main counter and, where provided, the discrete enquiry counter.

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 METROPOLITAN
POLICE

• Confirm the availability of desktop MPS IT systems' terminals at the PAO counter positions.
•

• Determine the ability of PAOs to monitor via CCTV.

The outcome of the survey identified the following issues:

•

The MPS IT systems' availability is only reported as an issue at two sites, however, they are within the

area at both sites.

• The majority of sites have at least some issue with situational awareness for PAOs when at their counter
positions. There are a range of reasons for this but in the main are due to shape of the property housing
the front counter area, the internal
layout and, for some, the provision of branding imagery applied to
internal glazing (obscuring views).
Limitations in the ability of PAOs to monitor via CCTV were identified.

•

As a result of the survey and our findings, we have taken the following action:

• All PAOs have been provided with laptops to enable them to work in the general front counter area which
will mean much greater oversight of the waiting areas where members of the public wait to speak to
officers or staff.

• All PAOs have been reminded of the importance of both their visibility at the front counter and also that
they should choose their workstation position at which they work on their laptop so that they can better
observe what is happening in the public waiting area.
The two police stations with issues of MPS IT system availability, have been rectified by providing all

•

PAOs with laptops.

With respect to layout and design (to produce maximum visibility/oversight), retrospectively applying major
changes to existing counter areas will require very substantial
investment and there are significant spatial
constraints at sites which will prevent such action without major site reconfiguration.

However, we have taken the opportunity to alter the design of the ongoing refurbishment of Forest Gate
Police Station to ensure that the layout of the front counter and public waiting area will provide much improved
from all counter positions. The lessons learned from this will be incorporated in a
oversight for PAOs,
forthcoming Front Counter Design Standard that will (after staff safety) prioritise clear sight lines and PAO
workplace ergonomics for all new sites or major refurbishments.

Front counter CCTV systems are due to be refreshed over the next few years as part of the MPS's CCTV
Lifecycle Programme with the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC).

Once approved it is anticipated work will commence in 2025/26, and will assist to enhance the ability of PAOs
to use CCTV to monitor front offices.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require further information from the MPS.

Yours sincerely

Deputy Assistant Commissioner

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