The girlfriend of a drug dealer who died during a police raid on their Perth home has lost a £100,000 compensation claim.
Kelly Maguire and members of Stuart Sandeman’s family raised concerns about the way the police carried out the raid and lodged a claim for damages against police chief Sir Stephen House.
Sandeman, who weighed 33 stones, died after swallowing a package of cocaine and brawling with officers as they tried to arrest him.
Ms Maguire and her legal team claimed that the officers did not follow appropriate procedures to deal with the situation and said they were entitled to damages. But the action at Perth Sheriff Court failed in the wake of a fatal accident inquiry which established nothing the officers had done had contributed to Sandeman’s death.
The court was formally told that the action was no longer being pursued.
The fatal accident inquiry into the death of Stuart “Big Sandy” Sandeman, who suffered a heart attack, concluded that the officers involved in the operation could not be blamed for his death.
Sheriff Fiona Tait ruled in her written findings that the officers were justified in using force upon Sandeman when he tried to swallow a package of drugs.
She said: “I require to determine whether their use of force was a reasonable, justifiable and proportionate response, and so lawful, in the circumstances.
“Given the scale and persistence of Mr Sandeman’s resistance and the risk which he posed to officers’ safety and his own safety, I am satisfied that the officers’ response was reasonable and proportionate.”