Mum accuses police of ‘killing my son’ after A34 tragedy

A mum has accused police of 'killing my son' after the 21-year-old took his own life on the A34. Pedestrian Mohammed 'Safwan' Rahman was struck by a lorry on Stone Road after his car had burst into flames on the Trentham Estate car park. An inquest has heard Safwan had been arrested on November 18, 2023, was dropped off by police at his Screwfix workplace, never returned to his Lightwood home, and went to Scotland to visit a friend before being pulled over by police on his return to Stoke-on-Trent on November 23, 2023 after he had been reported as a missing person.

But the family has lodged an official complaint with Staffordshire Police after arguing officers missed two opportunities to return Safwan to his family home. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) was called in following the tragedy. The family hope to open an orphanage in Bangladesh in Safwan's memory.

His mum told the inquest: "Our son was brought up with so much love. They should have brought him home but they took him to Screwfix. They killed my son."

The inquest heard Safwan - whose life changed following a 2023 car crash - was in his final year studying neuroscience and biochemistry at Keele University.

He was the first person in his family of doctors and nurses to ever be arrested. Staffordshire Police have not released details of the arrest. Safwan's dad told the inquest: "He changed after the crash.

The police said he was lucky to escape with minor injuries because it was a huge crash and totally wrote the car off. "Before that all he could think of was cars and living the high life so to speak, something definitely happened after that, I think he realised he had a lucky escape but it did change him. I think he thought he brought shame on the family because we're very respected in the community, we're all highly educated, we're all doctors and nurses, and the family name is important, and he was the first person in our family that was going to get a criminal record.

"He wanted to be a doctor and was going to do a medicine course after he'd completed this one, but I think he realised he wouldn't get into medicine with a criminal record."

North Staffordshire area coroner Daniel Howe delivered a suicide verdict. He passed away on November 23, 2023. He said: "Mohammed Safwan Rahman was a young man working towards his future plans of becoming a doctor.

He had a history of suicidal thoughts after a previous episode in 2017. He had a road traffic collision about eight months before his passing. "In November, 2023 he was arrested and he didn't return home, he was reported going up north to Scotland, and he was reported missing.

He was stopped by police officers and it was expressed in a police statement that Safwan had been clearing his head and planning to go home. In hindsight, if he'd been detained or arrested then he wouldn't have died when he did, but I cannot find his death was contributed to by the omissions of those officers. "He parked his car at Trentham Gardens for approximately three hours until the fire appeared to have started.

This prompted him to leave his car and head to the treeline. He is seen by the A34. I find that this was a deliberate act.

In that moment against a background of his future, his family, and police involvement, I can conclude Safwan's cause of death. "The medical cause of death was one of multi-traumatic injuries. My short-form conclusion, given the evidence I've heard and seen, I'm satisfied that entering the carriageway in front of the HGV was a deliberate act and I conclude this as suicide."

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References

1. ^ www.samaritans.org (www.samaritans.org)
2. ^ www.nhs.uk (www.nhs.uk)
3. ^ www.mind.org.uk (www.mind.org.uk)
4. ^ www.childline.org.uk (www.childline.org.uk)
5. ^ www.sane.org.uk (www.sane.org.uk)
6. ^ [email protected] (www.stokesentinel.co.uk)
7. ^ Get all the latest news from court here (www.stokesentinel.co.uk)