IT HAS been five years since a Derby man was found hanged in a custody cell at St Mary's Wharf police station.

A lengthy investigation that followed saw criminal charges brought against an officer and led to changes in the way Derbyshire police looks after suspects.

After an inquest yesterday recorded a verdict of death by misadventure, the former partner of Craig Boyd says she will never get closure.

Craig's body was found hanged with a shoelace around his neck in March 2004, hours after he had been arrested.

The 32-year-old should have been checked by officers every hour, but the two-week inquest heard that those mandatory assessments did not take place.

At a separate court hearing, it was revealed that officers on duty on the night of Craig's death had been watching the film Finding Nemo.

The jury at Craig's inquest, which was held at Pride Park stadium, deliberated for three hours.

Speaking afterwards, Andrea Fisher, Mr Boyd's partner, said she was relieved the inquest had finished.

She said: "I was his partner, on and off, for more than 12 years and he was the father of my daughter, Tia.

"The past five years have been a real struggle for me – it's been a battle every day.

"I don't think there will ever be any closure. I will miss him every day of my life."

Craig Boyd was found dead in cell W2 at 4.03am. He had tied a red shoelace around the plughole of a sink and then around his neck.

He had been brought in by officers at 11.30pm the night before, after they received an anonymous phone call tipping them off that he was in Normanton.

At the time of his arrest he was on warrant over two allegations of serious assault and one of wounding with intent.

When arrested he gave himself up and was compliant, even joking with the custody staff.

Craig, 32, had a long history of offending and had spent time in prison. He was a known crack cocaine-user and had tried to take his own life.

Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, custody officers should check each prisoner every hour by looking through the hatch of the cell.

This happened at midnight and again at 1am – but the next time Craig was seen was when he was found dead.

A subsequent court case and investigation by Greater Manchester Police found that PC David Stoll had signed to say Stoll had checked on Craig at 2am and 3am.

But on examining CCTV evidence police discovered the cells had not been looked into.

After a trial, a jury at Nottingham Crown Court found PC Stoll guilty of misconduct in a public office and he was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years.

Two of his fellow custody sergeants on duty the night Craig died were cleared of allegations of misconduct at the trial.

Since the 2004 incident, changes have been made to the way custody suites across the county are run.