asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a full statement concerning the circumstances leading to the death in police custody in February of Michael McFadden who was found dead with his shirt sleeve tied to a cell door and the other sleeve round his neck.

The circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. McFadden will be the subject of an inquest to be held by the coroner for the Wirral district of Merseyside, before a jury, on 29 February. It would not, therefore, be appropriate for me to make any further statement at this stage.