Jagdap Randhawa: Inquest of Leeds student hears of bail concerns
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Despite continually breaking his bail by failing to turn up to Derby’s St Mary’s Wharf police station, being on a final warning and once telling staff he would get a sick note from a doctor so he could go away to London, Clifton Mitchell remained out on the streets to kill.
Civilian police employee Sonia Dawkins, who has worked for Derbyshire Police for 31 years, told how she was familiar with the super-middleweight fighter Mitchell, when he was answering bail at the city centre station where she worked for around nine months in 2011.
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Hide AdMs Dawkins, explained to the inquest the procedure in 2011 for offenders who failed to attend and said it had since improved.
She said: “The old system was a bit lax... it wasn’t ideal”.
If a person was late they would generally turn a “blind eye” but if they failed to attend there would be an intelligence file raised on the computer which would go to the local Intelligence Office (LIO) – however this information was rarely acted upon, she said.
Mr Randhawa, 19, was on a night out with friends when he was punched by Mitchell and suffered a serious brain injury after hitting the ground.
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Hide AdMr Randhawa, who was studying English Literature at Leeds University died five days after the attack, in October 2011.
Mitchell, who was 21 at the time, was given an extended sentence of 10 years in July 2012 after a jury convicted him of Mr Randhawa’s manslaughter. The family have concerns about Mitchell being on bail when he committed the offence.
The hearing continues.
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