Paul Steven Reynolds · Prevention of Future Deaths report

On 19 April 2021 I commenced an investigation into the death of Paul Steven Reynolds, aged 38. The investigation concluded at the end of the inquest on 10 May 2021 . The conclusion of the inquest was that Mr Reynolds died following an unlawful restraint by the neck and further in prone position at Pontins Pakefield in Lowestoft, Suffolk on 14 February 2017.

The inquest concluded that Pontins security had unlawfully restrained Mr Reynolds by the neck and then placed him in an unlawful prone restraint without conducting effective monitoring of his breathing.

The medical cause of death was concluded to be ‘Complications Arising from Restraint of an Intoxicated Obese Individual in a Prone Position, with Compression of the Neck and Potential Obstruction of the Upper Airways’..

On 11 February 2017 Paul Reynolds attended the Pontins holiday leisure park in Lowestoft. During the evening of the 14th there was an incident between guests in the communal area of the leisure park. As a result of this incident Mr Reynolds was restrained by security and other staff until police arrived. He was grabbed from behind in a bear hug, taken to his knees in a neck hold and placed on the ground in a prone restraint.

During the 11 minute prone restraint, captured on CCTV, Mr Reynolds did not appear to make any movement, although the Pontins staff involved in the restraint gave evidence that he had been wriggling, resisting the restraint, talking and later murmuring. He had also apologised and asked to be let up. This information had not been shared with the police.

The police arrived just after Mr Reynolds was heard snoring, and presumed to be asleep. The effectiveness of the monitoring by Pontins staff was deemed to be unsatisfactory as Mr Reynolds was in fact unconscious and no member of staff had recognised this.

A guest had identified to Pontins restraint staff that Mr Reynolds was at risk of breathing difficulties, but this was ignored. The police arrived and arrested Mr Reynolds by applying handcuffs and eventually placing him in the police van. On route to the Police Investigation Centre the police stopped the vehicle when they noticed Mr Reynolds appearing unwell. They took Mr Reynolds out of the van and performed CPR until the paramedics arrived. Mr Reynolds was conveyed to James Paget University Hospital where he died with hypoxic brain injury due to a lack of oxygen to the brain, on 16 February 2017.

Experts attending the inquest gave evidence that Mr Reynolds may have fallen unconscious within seconds of the neck hold. This was exacerbated by moving him into a prone restraint with his legs tucked up to his buttocks and failing to relax the constraint and get him back to his feet or into recovery position.

(1) The Physical Intervention Policy August 2016 places the onus on staff to seek additional training.
(2) Pontins do not undertake any internal training or employ external trainers for security staff.
(3) Unbadged staff are allowed to participate in restraint
(4) Ground restraint remains in the PI policy as an appropriate method to contain an incident even though this is not taught in SIA accredited courses.
(5) At no point during the prone restraint was Mr Reynolds placed in the recovery position. Neither did any member of staff appear to seriously consider the potential for positional asphyxia by closely or effectively monitoring Mr Reynolds breathing.
(6) There appeared to be no clarity in the Policy about who should take charge of an incident or what the responsibilities are for security staff and Managers.
(7) There appeared to be a lack accurate information and clarity around what information should be shared with the police about the incident.
(8) There was no documented evidence of the induction or any other training for staff.