Police taser gun 'did not cause man's death'

A postmortem examination has found that a police stun gun used on an English man moments before he died "was not a contributory factor in his death", police have said today.

An inquest into 31-year-old Justin Petty's death was opened and adjourned for a date to be fixed as the police watchdog considered whether to investigate.

Armed officers were called to a house in the Goldington area at 7pm on Saturday after reports of a dispute between a mother and son, Bedfordshire Police said.

Mr Petty was found outside the terraced house in The Spinney, armed with a knife and suffering from injuries.

He was shot with a taser gun after threatening officers before returning to the house where he was discovered with "self-inflicted injuries", a force spokeswoman said.

He was taken to Bedford Hospital where he died from these wounds and the incident was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

A post-mortem examination found that Mr Petty died from an incision wound to the neck and stab wounds, said police.

A force spokeswoman said: "The pathologist also found that the taser which police used in dealing with the incident was not a contributory factor in his death."

The IPCC are deciding whether to investigate the death or let it remain a local policing matter, she added.

The incident recently prompted the Northern Ireland Assembly to debate the use of taser guns by the PSNI.