A police sergeant and two civilian staff from Devon and Cornwall Police have appeared before magistrates in Exeter this morning charged in connection with the death of a mentally-ill church caretaker who died after being held in custody.
Sergeant Jan Kingshott, 43, and custody detention officers Simon Tansley, 37, and Michael Marsden, 54, are accused of the manslaughter of 32-year-old Thomas Orchard in October 2012 in Exeter.
Magistrates granted an application to exclude their addresses from the public domain.
Mr Orchard, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, died a week after being arrested and then restrained at Heavitree Road police station.
The three, who have been suspended from duty, are accused of manslaughter by using "unreasonable force". They also face separate charges of manslaughter by "gross negligence".
The three also face a charge of being the holder of a public office they wilfully neglected to perform their duty/wilfully misconducted themselves.
No pleas were entered and magistrates sent the case to Bristol Crown Court, and the defendants were bailed to appear at the court on February 26.
