Grieving father told he would ‘just have to get on with it’ by police

Man had been told daughter had just died in jail

A father whose daughter died in prison was told by a police officer “don’t worry, you’ll just have to get on with it”, an inquiry heard.

Mother-of-two Tammi Bruce, 38, was found dead in her cell at Polmont jail near Falkirk in November 2017.

Her father William Bruce told a fatal accident inquiry into her death he was unhappy about the way he was spoken to by police officers who informed him of her death.

Mr Bruce, of Auchterarder, said police had told him: “There’s no easy way to tell you this: Tammi’s dead.”

He said one of the officers then said: “Don’t worry you’ll just have to get on with it. When my father died I had to.”

Following the inquiry at Falkirk Sheriff Court, Sheriff Derek Livingston said the cause of Miss Bruce’s death was unknown as the results of a postmortem examination and toxicology tests had proved inconclusive.

He ruled there were no reasonable precautions which could have been taken to prevent it but outlined the concerns Mr Bruce had expressed.

He said: “Mr Bruce stated that he had a number of concerns in relation to the circumstances of Tammi’s death.

“The first of these is that she was locked up at 10am and unlocked at 11.15am. No one had checked she was OK.

“He was unhappy with the way the police had told him about the death and in particular they had said, ‘There’s no easy way to tell you this: Tammi’s dead.’

“He was also concerned that that was exacerbated by one of the police officers telling him, ‘Don’t worry you’ll just have to get on with it. When my father died I had to.’”

Mr Bruce said his daughter had a “good Christian upbringing” but started getting into trouble with the police after becoming involved in a “bad” relationship.

The inquiry heard a prison doctor stopped her taking medication including opiates, tranquillisers and powerful painkillers she had been prescribed.

However, Sheriff Livingston said there was no evidence to indicate the withdrawal of the drugs caused Miss Bruce’s death.

Chief Superintendent Alan Gibson, Forth Valley Divisional Commander, said: “We will reflect on Mr Bruce’s comments”

He was unhappy with the way the police had told him about the death.

SHERIFF DEREK LIVINGSTON