New rep wants to use traumatic experience to help others and drive change

18 August 2025

Charlotte Hunt had always loved her work as a custody sergeant. While some officers didn’t relish the role, she says she always wanted to be in that position and rose to the challenges it brought.

She saw it as part of her duties to not only look after the people who were being detained, ensuring they were treated properly, but also to ensure that the officers bringing in detainees were also supported, guiding them on procedures.

“Put simply, I just wanted to do the best I could for the people being taken into custody and colleagues involved in that process,” says Charlotte, who has been with the Force for 21 years and served as a custody sergeant for almost six of those.

But, when she was the sole custody sergeant on a night shift at the Bloxwich custody suite when a detainee sadly died, an incident that was traumatic in itself, she was left feeling unsupported by not just the Force but also the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC).

Inquest

The inquest earlier this year recorded a verdict that the man had died due to substance abuse, with no recommendations for action by the Force, which vindicated Charlotte’s actions on the night in question. 

But nonetheless the 18 months between his death and the coroner’s ruling put her through a rollercoaster of emotions during which three or four times she vowed to leave the Force once the legal proceedings were over.

However, seeing the ruling in black and white, knowing she still had plenty to give, Charlotte has reconsidered and is not only fully committed to being an officer but also to being an effective workplace representative for West Midland Police Federation.

“I really want to use the experience I have had to help colleagues,” she explained, “If any good can come out of it then this will be it. I had fantastic support from my own Federation rep – Matt Minton – during this case, at a time when I was getting little to nothing from the Force or the PCC, so I want to give something back to the Fed.”

 

 

Having been elected as a Fed rep earlier this year, she is also keen to ensure that the Force improves the way it supports custody sergeants should they find themselves in similar circumstances and wants the PCC to fulfil his duty of care to officers by appropriately funding legal advice for officers where the Force is unable to due to a potential conflict of interest.

West Midlands Police Federation is supporting Charlotte, with branch secretary Tim Rogers saying officers should have a reasonable expectation that their legal representation is funded when they find themselves involved in an inquiry when they have been carrying out the duties expected of them to the best of their abilities and in line with their training and powers.

“By the very nature of policing, officers can often find themselves in a situation where they need legal representation. It is right and proper that where there is a death in custody an inquiry is held and it is also appropriate for the officers involved to be asked about their actions,” he explains.

“But it is completely reasonable for officers to expect the Force to fund the legal representation they might need and, where that is not possible due to a potential conflict of interest, the Police and Crime Commissioner, in line with Home Office guidance, should step in and cover those costs.

“Disappointingly, in Charlotte’s case, she only found out in the week before the inquest that the Force would not be funding her legal representation and the Police and Crime Commissioner then refused to pick up the bill. 

Lawyers

“In other cases, the PCC has agreed to pay an officer’s legal costs but has then capped that at £100 per hour which is nowhere near the usual rates charged by suitable lawyers. 

“When the Federation heard of Charlotte’s plight, we were able to step in and agreed to pay her costs but it should not have come to this.”

On the night of the incident in August 2023, Charlotte was the sole custody sergeant at Bloxwich and was working with two detention escort officers (DEOs). At the time, minimum staffing levels set out that there should be two custody sergeants and two DEOs, depending on the perceived risks.

“But anyone who works in custody will tell you that the risk in the custody suite can change in the blink of an eye,” she explained, adding that was how the night unfolded.

Charlotte was dealing with one person who had been taken to hospital after knocking himself out and was being brought into custody after being discharged by doctors. She was concerned about his welfare and going through the booking in process when a second man was brought in.

“I was worried about the second detainee’s mannerisms,” she said, “He was agitated and grinding his jaw. I had seen this before and asked him if he had taken anything, which he denied. A number of officers had been involved in bringing him in and I just wasn’t happy with the way he was behaving. He appeared erratic and unable to stand still.”

Custody

Charlotte requested permission to carry out a strip search – a decision custody sergeants used to be allowed to make themselves - to check for drugs but was also trying to keep tabs on what was happening with the person brought in from hospital.

“It is hard when you are the only custody sergeant on duty, you have a duty of care to all involved and you want to make sure you are doing everything right,” she explained.

During the search, the detainee became aggressive and at one point almost managed to take a Taser from one of the officers.

When the second detainee’s condition deteriorated, an ambulance was called, and Charlotte was told in the early hours of the morning that he had passed away.

“At this point, you would expect to be replaced, but I wasn’t. I sat in custody with my head in my hands, going through everything. Obviously, we weren’t allowed to confer with any of the other officers involved and for several hours I just sat there,” she recalled.

“Bloxwich custody was initially closed, so no new detainees were brought in, but as my shift drew to a close a decision was taken to re-open it, due to demand, and yet I wasn’t consulted, just informed that Bloxwich was now accepting persons in custody.”

Detainees

These are both areas that Charlotte, and the Federation, want to see addressed by the Force.

“Charlotte should not have been left on her own like that under the circumstances and she should, at the very least, have been asked for her view on re-opening the suite to new detainees,” Tim added.

Both Tim and Charlotte are also critical of the lack of general support Charlotte received from the Force between the incident and the inquest. It was only a month after the detainee’s death, when Charlotte had something of a breakdown at Perry Barr, that a more senior officer spoke to her about what had happened.

“No one had even acknowledged it really,” she said, “I felt pretty much abandoned and left to cope with it.”

While the inquiry into the death was underway, Charlotte requested a role away from custody where she would not have to work alone but she was offered an agile working position that would have left her isolated.

Officer

Unable to cope, she took sick leave but after three months returned to a custody role, believing that she would only be able to secure a move to a more suitable position if she was back at work.

She now works as an intelligence supervisor, having managed to arrange a move in February last year.

But Charlotte is committed to bringing about change within the Force, and the Federation is keen to get behind her. 

“Latest statistics show there were 24 deaths in or after police custody during 2023/24, so at a Force level it would not be unreasonable to expect them to ensure that any officers involved in these incidents are fully supported by the Force, in terms of them being placed in a role that suits them while any inquiry is carried out, and also making sure a senior officer keeps in touch with them and checks in on their welfare,” says Tim.

“Thankfully, Charlotte has come out of the other side of this. She is clearly resilient but has been put under immense strain and that could have been eased if more had been done to make sure she had access to appropriate legal representation and if the Force had fulfilled its obligations in terms of having a duty of care to her.”

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