Police admit Telford hanging inquiry missed evidence

The most senior police officer to investigate the death of the second black man to be found hanging in Telford admitted yesterday they still could not be sure how he died. "A central piece of the jigsaw'', was missing, he conceded.

Jason McGowan, 20, was found hanging from his belt on railings only yards away from the pub where he had been celebrating the Millennium Eve with his new wife hours earlier. His death, coming just six months after his uncle, Errol McGowan, 34, was discovered in a similar hanging in July 1999, shocked the Shropshire community.

Their family, convinced the men could have been killed by racists, objected to what they saw as a police assumption of suicide and campaigned for a new inquiry.

Detective Superintendent Mel Shore, now retired, was called in a month after the second death to reinvestigate both hangings. He admitted at the inquest into the younger man's death yesterday: "It is very difficult to say exactly what happened to Jason.''

He said: "The most likely explanation is that Jason died by self hanging but there might be other possibilities.''

Telford and Wrekin coroner's court was told that Mr Shore's inquiries had been hampered by mistakes made in the first investigation into Jason McGowan's death.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Grieve, who headed the Metropolitan Police's Racial and Violent Crimes Task Force until his recent retirement, told the inquest that the first investigation had started efficiently but descended into confusion. He said it was "inexplicable'' that scenes of crimes officers were withdrawn within hours of the death. The railings were not fingerprinted and bushes and trees not checked for evidence.

Detective Chief Inspector Ken Crane, now retired, who led the investigation for the first month, admitted that officers at the scene jumped to the conclusion the death was suicide. But, he insisted, he had maintained an open mind and conducted a thorough inquiry.

The inquest continues.