Officer tried to revive hanged suspect
PC Sheila Ensor attempted to resuscitate Craig Boyd, who was not breathing.
When she looked in and saw Mr Boyd "kneeling" next to the cell toilet, the custody officer said she first thought he was being sick
On closer inspection, she realised he was unconscious.
She said: "I looked down and was expecting to see his feet but what I actually saw were his heels, as if he was kneeling."
PC Ensor was giving evidence yesterday at an inquest at Pride Park stadium into the 32-year-old's death.
His body was found in a cell at St Mary's Wharf station at 4am on March 16, 2004.
Mr Boyd, who was wanted on suspicion of assault and twice failing to appear at court, had given himself up at the house of a former girlfriend, in Normanton, the night before his death.
The father-of-one was pronounced dead at the police station and the cause was given as hanging. He was found with a red shoelace around his neck.
PC Ensor said she ran and banged on the custody desk as a call for help when she realised Mr Boyd was not responding.
She returned to the cell and tried to lift Mr Boyd, at which point she gained "first sight" of a ligature around his neck.
Her colleague, PC David Stoll, arrived and cut the ligature. PC Ensor then tried to revive Mr Boyd.
She said: "I positioned his jaw and I blew once, but nothing happened. There were no chest increases.
"I thought there was no way I could resuscitate him. I thought he was dead and I could not succeed."
PC Ensor said she had seen Mr Boyd earlier in the evening, when he first came into custody, and he had seemed like a "compliant prisoner".
The inquest previously heard that PC Stoll told colleagues he had looked in on Mr Boyd in his cell at 2am and 3am.
But an investigation into Mr Boyd's death, led by Greater Manchester Police, discovered he had not carried out those mandatory hourly checks.
The inquest continues.
DEAD MAN: Craig Boyd was found hanged.
