Roberto Villa: inquest opens into police restraint death

Before Assistant Coroner Ian Pears
West Yorkshire (West) Coroner’s Court
1 Cater Street, Bradford, BD1 5AS
Opens 2 November 2026 - scheduled to last approx. 20 days

Roberto Villa, 37, died on 4 December 2018 following approximately 4 minutes of police restraint, which included a headlock lasting over a minute. Roberto did not recover from the restraint.

Prior to his death, Roberto had suffered from bi-polar disorder and had previously been detained under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act 1983. In the months leading up to his death, he had been struggling significantly with his mental health following the death of his mother.

On 30 November 2018, several days before the police restraint, Roberto attended hospital complaining that spiders were inside him trying to crawl out and had made lacerations to his stomach.

Despite the family’s concerns and clear signs that he was in crisis, Roberto was discharged to hotel accommodation on 1 December 2018 and died 3 days later following contact with the police.

It is expected that the inquest will now consider the decision to discharge Roberto from hospital on 1 December 2018, the adequacy of the care arrangements and discharge planning, and the officers use of force.

The family hope the inquest will address their concerns about the care that Roberto received prior to his death, the officer use of force, and whether his death could have been prevented.

The family are represented by Bharine Kalsi and Elliot Bannister of Deighton Pierce Glynn, and Fiona Murphy KC and Cian Murphy of Doughty Street Chambers. They are supported by INQUEST.