The family of police officer from Whitefield who took his own life after allegations of bullying by his superiors have said that they don’t accept all the coroner’s findings in relation to the bullying and racism we believe he suffered.
Senior coroner Joanne Kearsley ruled that Mr Abraham’s death was ‘suicide’and said that there was evidence that any steps should have been taken” which would have prevented his death.
Anugrah Abraham, a student police officer aged 21 took his own life in March 2023 was on his first placement with West Yorkshire Police
His family have maintained that Anu felt harassed and unsupported. He faced institutional racism and bullying which led to severe stress and anxiety that he was left to navigate on his own.
In a statement released by the family after the judgement at Rochdale Coroner’s court the family said
Nothing can compensate us for the loss of our Anu, losing him has left a void that we can never truly fill. His future and ours has been changed forever.
We have sat through a painful three weeks listening to how those selected for the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) – many barely out of their teens – faced the impossible pressures of frontline policing whilst studying full-time for a degree.
Anu became a police cadet because he wanted to make a valuable contribution to society. But when Anu asked for support, because he was struggling, the institutions he placed his trust in – West Yorkshire Police and Leeds Trinity University –failed him.
We have heard evidence that, on multiple occasions, his supervising sergeants at best failed to recognise—and at worst, contributed to his declining mental health.
We have heard how he was given ‘bollockings’ that were witnessed by his whole team.
Policing culture based on fear and discipline is not the answer. A modern, supportive police force must welcome officers like Anu, who had so much to give. Bollocking is bullying.
We have always maintained that Anu was bullied by his supervising sergeants. They found him an easy target who didn’t answer back and whose gentle nature was taken for submissiveness.
The Coroner decided that there is no evidence that from the beginning of January his mental health was escalated; or that his mental health was addressed in any way. Instead, he was punished and forced onto development plans.
His union rep recognised this when she emailed his line manager a day before his passing stating that such plans commonly cause anxiety levels to ‘hit the roof’. Tragically, she was the last West Yorkshire Police Officer who Anu reached out to in a final cry for help.
This was not a safe environment.
The Coroner has recognised that there are serious flaws with the training of student police officers, so much so that she has decided to issue a Preventing Future Death report that addresses concerns at a UK-wide level.
We believe that universities and police forces need to have clearer oversight, scrutiny, and standardisation of the operational practices of University-Police Partnerships—particularly regarding student health and wellbeing–if they are to be continued at all.
Disappointingly this inquest did not consider the endemic institutional racism and culture of bullying dressed up as ‘stern discipline’ which persist within the Force. Our Anu is another casualty in a long line of others and we will continue to demand scrutiny on these two issues. Racism and policing is an explosive combination with dire consequences for people of colour but nothing seems to change.
We disagree with the Coroner that Anu’s death was not preventable. Anu was set up to fail. He never had sufficient support, particularly after he told his superiors that he was considering ending his own life. We cannot fathom how and why the Coroner has come to that conclusion and believe Anu’s death could have been prevented if the appropriate fail-safes had been in place. Sadly, it is too late for Anu and for our family.
People should not have to face racism, cultural bias, and workplace bullying. As we consider our next steps, we ask that the media and our political leaders show bravery by taking concrete steps to address institutional racism and hold public bodies to account.
