Police refuse to release CCTV of man kissing ‘spiked’ woman because it would breach his human rights
Police have refused to release CCTV images of a man seen with a young mother hours before her death, claiming it would breach his human rights, an inquest has heard.
Jamie Smith, 23, died after falling from a multi-storey car park in Portsmouth following a night out in November last year.
Her devastated family believe she may have been spiked by an unidentified man she was spotted kissing in a club that evening.
Traces of ketamine were found in her system after her death.
Smith had spent the afternoon visiting a Christmas market before meeting an unidentified man and going to Wiggle, an adult entertainment club in Portsmouth.
CCTV captured the pair kissing inside the venue.
Footage showed her leaving the club alone and unsteady on her feet, with the man following approximately 30 seconds later.
She was later seen wandering city streets in the early hours before heading to the multi-storey car park, where she fell from a wall on the first floor. Her phone was discovered in a drain near the club.
Smith’s mother, Julie Stephenson, insisted her daughter would not have taken drugs willingly.
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“She’s my daughter and I know she would not have done that just on a Wednesday night,” Stephenson said.
“She went to a Christmas market, in a hoodie and trainers. She’s not going to go out and get hammered and do drugs – not when it’s her daughter’s birthday the next day.”
Jamie’s sister, Jodie Quinn, shared similar concerns.
“She would be too scared. She was scared to eat out-of-date bread. She wasn’t out that night for a big night out. I thought it was strange that Jamie would go to a dancing strip club as a 23-year-old girl,” Quinn said.
Detective Sergeant Matthew Egginton told the inquest police had been unable to identify the man despite using facial recognition technology and issuing a witness appeal.
“He’s not a suspect, we can’t release his photograph, it’s against his human rights,” DS Egginton explained.
The officer said CCTV footage had been analysed for evidence of drink spiking but nothing suspicious was found.
Detective Chief Inspector Gemma Hunter added there had been “no investigative need” to circulate images to the public, as there were no grounds to suspect criminal offences.
Coroner Nicholas Walker also said that there was “no evidence” available to say that she was spiked.
He added: “The family suggest there are suspicions and they do not accept she would not have taken it herself. I have heard that she was someone that had taken recreational drugs.
“As a matter of common sense, we heard from the police officer that the point of spiking is to stay with the person that was spiked. The person that was with her did not stay with her.”
Walker ruled out suicide but said the car park was an “unusual” place for someone to be.
“She completely miscalculated, or misjudged, due to the ketamine and alcohol,” he said.
“Together, that misjudgement led to her catastrophic and tragic fall. I’m not persuaded this was anything other than a very sad and very tragic accident.”
The judge added that he couldn’t say if the unknown male did anything wrong.
He added: “I make no finding at all about whether that person did anything wrong but it is a shame that I have not been able to hear from that person.
“But the shame I feel is nothing in comparison to what the family must feel as they would have wanted to ask him questions. I do not make any criticism of the police at all.”
The judge instead said that Smith died an accidental death.