Almost a decade on from the death of her daughter in police custody, a devastated mother has spoken of her determination to continue her fight for justice.
Kelly Hartigan-Burns, from Darwen, was arrested on the night of 3 December 2016, following allegations that she had punched her partner Colette at their home in Barley Bank Street. A member of the public had dialled 999 after witnessing her behaving erratically in the nearby Bright Street.
Fewer than 60 minutes after being placed in Cell C2 at Greenbank Police Station in Blackburn and put on half-hourly observations, the 35 year old was discovered unresponsive at around 1.30am. She was rushed to the Royal Blackburn Hospital, where she passed away the following day, reports Lancs Live.
Inquest findings and police failings
A four-week inquest held in 2022 concluded with a jury finding that a number of police failings had contributed to Kelly's death. Among these was the conduct of PC Simon Haigh, who had neglected to inform colleagues of Kelly's suicide risk.
Following the conclusion of the inquest, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) informed Kelly's mother, June Hartigan, that an investigation into PC Haigh's conduct would be launched after determining he had a case to answer for gross misconduct. Yet four years on, June says she remains without answers.
After being contacted by LancsLive, the watchdog has now confirmed its investigation is "almost complete" following the submission of additional information by Lancashire Constabulary in October 2025.
Events leading to Kelly's detention
During the inquest, jurors heard testimony from a number of witnesses, including police experts and both serving and retired officers who had been involved in Kelly's arrest and detention. The 999 call to police, made after Kelly was observed behaving erratically in public, was classified as the most serious "Grade One" incident.
PC Simon Haigh, who had 16 years of experience, and PC Rebecca Price, who was still undergoing training, were dispatched in a police vehicle. They discovered Kelly sitting down and smoking a cigarette. PC Price recalled her as being upset and drunk, while PC Haigh remembered her as calm and not slurring her words.
Despite a suicide marker appearing on records accessed by PC Price, the inquest heard that PC Haigh chose not to seek further information on this, and as she appeared to be in a satisfactory condition, they drove her to her home on Barley Bank Street.
Once Kelly was back at her address, her partner Colette informed PC Haigh that she had been assaulted by Kelly earlier that evening, leading to Kelly being arrested on suspicion of assault. PC Andrew Sarchet and Special Sergeant Megan Dawson, a volunteer officer, were assigned to transport her to Greenbank Police Station in Blackburn.
However, neither officer was made aware of the original reason for the call-out or Kelly's mental health history. Notes taken by Dawson during her handover with PC Haigh referred only to a domestic abuse incident. They also took possession of Kelly's medication, which carried a clear indication that it had been prescribed to treat psychosis. The jury determined that there was no evidence PC Haigh had informed the special sergeant of any of the circumstances or any potential risk of self-harm or suicide. This, they stated, was "an extremely serious omission which contributed to the death of Kelly".
While Kelly was taken away, Colette spoke with PC Haigh and raised concerns about Kelly's mental health, warning that she was at risk of self-harm or suicide. PC Haigh failed to pass this information on to staff in the custody suite. That failure to relay details regarding Kelly's mental health and suicide risk was deemed to have played a part in her death.
The jury concluded that PC Haigh, referred to in the conclusion as the senior arresting officer, ought to have requested further information from the control room concerning the recorded suicide marker.
Custody sergeant's conduct criticised
Kelly was taken to Greenbank Police Station, where she was booked in by Sergeant Jason Marsden without a full risk assessment being carried out — despite the fact that she had a recorded suicide attempt nine months earlier and notwithstanding the events that had unfolded earlier that night.
The inquest heard that Mr Marsden, who retired just weeks before a police misconduct hearing found him guilty of gross misconduct, did not even ask Kelly her name before firing a series of questions at her and sending her to a cell within a matter of minutes. Mr Marsden acknowledged he 'should have declined detention' given Kelly's history of mental health difficulties and previous incidents of self-harm and attempted suicide which were recorded on her police file.
He also disclosed he was aware that medication Kelly brought with her to the police station is prescribed for individuals with mental health conditions and he labelled her an 'alcy' after noting she had thiamine; a drug commonly used to treat a deficiency in alcoholics.
Barrister Kate Cornell, representing Lancashire Constabulary during the inquest, put it to Mr Marsden that his custody record was 'incomplete and contains basic errors'. She added: "Your attitude to her on the desk that we can see on the CCTV shows a total failure to engage with her in any way. Your decision-making was flawed and unreliable."
After instructing officers to place Kelly in a cell, Mr Marsden left for home — two hours before his shift ended — but returned to the station after she was discovered unresponsive. Sergeant Julian Wilkinson, who was amongst three who took over the shift from Mr Marsden, disclosed that his former colleague appeared 'really worried' when he was summoned back to the police station after Kelly had been found unresponsive in her cell.
"He looked really worried after Kelly had gone to hospital and was blaming the organisation saying he was stressed enough without this," Mr Wilkinson said. "He said it was down to custody being short-staffed but I remember thinking to myself it wasn't understaffed that night. I remember thinking he couldn't blame the organisation for that."
Expert witness Chris Hampshire, a temporary inspector from Surrey Police who has been involved in a national enquiry into deaths in police custody, described the manner in which Mr Marsden handled Kelly as 'totally unacceptable'. "It must have been extremely frightening," he told the jury. "She must have felt hopeless. [In terms of policing practice] it's very poor. It makes a significant contribution to Kelly's risk and it shows poor leadership."
Inquest conclusion and police response
The jury stated that the failure of the senior attending officer to notify either the transporting officer or custody staff that Ms Hartigan-Burns was a suicide risk "contributed" to her death. They further noted that the speed at which she was processed, along with the failure to explain the custody procedure to her, heightened the risk of self-harm or suicide.
"If officers of Lancashire Constabulary involved in this incident had shown more compassion, acted diligently, practiced common sense, followed guidance and procedure from the moment they found Kelly in the church yard and throughout her detention there may have been a different outcome," the jury concluded.
Deputy Chief Constable Sacha Hatchett, of Lancashire Constabulary, said after the inquest concluded: "Our thoughts first and foremost today are with the family of Kelly Hartigan-Burns and with all of her loved ones. Lancashire Constabulary owes a duty of care to all of those in our custody and they should be able to rely on us to keep them safe. We failed to do that with Kelly and for that we are truly sorry."
"Since that night we have taken a number of steps to minimise the risk of such a tragedy being able to ever happen again. This includes a number of system changes to strengthen our processes when booking people into custody and increasing training for staff on how to recognise when people are vulnerable and how they should be looked after when in our care."
"Following Kelly's death, the matter was referred to the Independent Office of Police Conduct who looked into the actions of five officers and two custody detention officers. One officer was taken to a gross misconduct hearing but retired before that hearing took place. The hearing determined that he would have been dismissed had he not retired. Another officer was subject to unsatisfactory performance procedures and management action."
"We are grateful to HM Coroner for examining this matter in such detail during the course of the inquest and to the jury for their careful consideration. As Lancashire Constabulary is a learning organisation, we will of course study their findings in detail and take on board any further lessons that we can. Once again, our thoughts and sympathies are with all of Kelly Hartigan-Burns' loved ones at this time."
Mother's battle for justice
LancsLive can exclusively reveal that Kelly's mother June, who resides in Poulton-le-Fylde, is still waiting for answers from the police watchdog regarding the investigation into PC Haigh. She said: "I cannot understand why it is taking so long for anyone to make a decision on this matter. Since my daughter's death we are now on our sixth Prime Minister, the Grenfell Tower Fire was in 2017 but the enquiry, which was much more involved, concluded in 2024. It seems individual families that are not in the limelight as such don't matter, can wait forever until you have a spare moment, our feelings are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things."
An IOPC spokesperson said: "Our thoughts remain with Kelly's family and loved ones, as well as all those affected by her death. Our independent investigation into a complaint regarding some of the evidence heard during the inquest concluded in 2023 and found one officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct. Lancashire Constabulary, which is responsible for arranging the disciplinary hearing, shared further information, which was not available to us during the investigation, in October 2025 and we shared this with the complainant. We have since explored further lines of inquiry raised by this additional evidence to determine what impact, if any, it may have on our decision making. Our review of the new information is almost complete, and we await one further statement before we will be in a position to share our draft findings with the complainant and Lancashire Constabulary. We recognise the impact on all those involved to have matters unresolved, so long after Kelly's death, and have been assured that we will soon have the information we require in order to reach our decision."
Lancashire Constabulary confirmed that the investigation remains with the IOPC.
