Vital security camera tapes found missing

London: The head of a Metropolitan police station where a man died has been recorded on tape promising that CCTV cameras were working and tape from them had been seized weeks before investigators told the man's family that the footage was missing.

Sean Rigg, a 40-year-old musician, was arrested in the street by four police officers. He died in Brixton police station, where he was placed in a metal cage in the yard.

Rigg had schizophrenia, an illness his family say he overcame in recent years to live a normal life. He was otherwise physically fit and healthy around the time he died. Two postmortem examinations were unable to find a cause of death.

Rigg's family believe officers who restrained him during the arrest, or those present when he was placed in the station cage, may have contributed to his death.

They have held a weekly vigil outside the station and marked the anniversary of his death yesterday.

There were no cameras in the police van that took Rigg to the police station and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which is expected to complete its investigation next month, initially told Rigg's family that only CCTV footage seized from inside the station showed the cage where he died and the cameras involved had limited views.

Convinced there were more outdoor cameras nearby, Rigg's family demanded an audit of security cameras at the station. IPCC investigators then conceded there were more cameras overlooking the cage. They said they had found the recorders had not been working for three months. Rigg's family suspect a cover-up.