ELN: A tourist from Ilford in Essex who died in police custody in Dubai was allegedly subjected to severe beatings by officers. Lee Bradley Brown, 39, of Ilford Essex, was on a last minute holiday to Dubai when he was arrested and put behind bars in the Bur Dubai police station, following an argument with a hotel maid who apparently entered his room unannounced.
Other inmates told his family back in the UK of the horror of witnessing up to six police officers strip and handcuff the maintenance worker from Essex, before holding him down in a chair and beating him with their feet, fists and batons. They claimed the seemingly lifeless body of Mr Brown was then dragged away to another cell where he died hree days later from his injuries.
It is also reported that while in custody, police denied him access to a lawyer and gave him little food and water. His mother Doris, 67 of Dagenham, Essex, was devastated on hearing of her son’s horrific death. “I can’t believe this has happened it is every mother’s nightmare,” she said. “The first thing I knew Lee was on holiday in Dubai, the next thing I know he’s dead.”
The Brown family first heard about the incident when Mr Brown’s sister in the UK answered a phone call from a fellow inmate. She said the prisoner claimed he found her number as the next of kin contact in her brother’s photocopied passport details left in his cell. The family were formally told about his death on Wednesday. Mr Brown was arrested on April 6 the same day he flew into Dubai for alleged assault, intimidating behaviour and using abusive language, it was claimed. A British embassy spokesman said: “We can confirm that Lee Bradley Brown has died whilst in police custody. “We have spoken to his family and are providing them with consular assistance. “The embassy is in close contact with Dubai police, who are investigating Lee’s death.”
A Dubai police spokesman also confirmed a British man had died in the detention centre and said they were awaiting a forensic report to see the cause of death. Radha Stirling, founder of UK-based charity Detained in Dubai, said she hoped a full inquiry will be carried out. ‘Police stations in Dubai are notoriously brutal and the one that this poor man was in is by far the worst,’ she said. ‘I have never come across any allegations as serious as this. ‘Cells are usually covered in human faeces and can contain up to 20 prisoners in each one. Most will be forced to sleep on the floor.
‘They are often denied the basic rights you would expect in a police station. ‘You have to remember that these people have not even been found guilty in a court of law.’ A Dubai police spokesman said they would carry out their own investigation once the results of a post-mortem examination, which may take three days, are known.