Trainee police officer from Bury was 'bullied and suffered racism'

Anugrah Abraham, 21, from Bury, was on a placement with West Yorkshire Police (WYP) as part of a three-year apprenticeship degree at Leeds Trinity University.

Anugrah, known as Anu, was found dead in Radcliffe on March 4 last year, a day after he was reported missing.

An inquest into his death started today, Monday, at Rochdale Coroners' Court and evidence was heard from his dad Amar Abraham and mum Sonia Abraham, who spoke about Anu's early life and his journey to becoming a police officer.

Mr Abraham said his son was born in Delhi, the youngest of three with two older sisters, and the family came to live in the UK in 2003.

Mr Abraham described his son as “a lovely guy and very kind-hearted”.

Mrs Abraham said Anu “always made us laugh, he was the life of the family and always made jokes. He was very caring and kind person”.

It was said that he had always wanted to join the forces from a young age and that was a dream of his.

Read more: MP's call to 'prevent further tragedy' after death of student officer

He performed well at school and college and always scored well in exams. After college, he worked at Nando’s for three years and looked for jobs in the forces.

In October 2021, he was offered the chance to do a police constable apprenticeship with WYP.

Mr Abraham said: “We were so proud of him, and he was very happy as well."

Mrs Abraham said: “We were over the moon when he joined the police, he was so proud to collect his uniform.

“We were always behind him. That was his dream, and he got his dream.”

Anu started his training and moved to Wakefield for six months, and no problems were reported.

Speaking about when Anu started at WYP, Mr Abraham said: “We were fearful as it’s a challenging job, but we were confident that he would be supported.”

But when he joined the police in Halifax he decided to move back home with his family in Whitefield, where he was happier.

The claims, made by Mr Abraham at the hearing, were not accepted by WYP, the force’s lawyer said.

He was struggling under the pressure of working as a trainee PC and also university work doing a degree apprenticeship with WYP, the court heard.

But Mr Abraham told the court that Anu started saying that he was not enjoying his job, his sergeant would bully him and he suffered racism.

Wiping away tears, Mr Abraham said: “He mentioned there is bullying and racism culture there, ‘My sergeant used to bully me a lot, even if I do correct’. He was completely lost, really.

“We loved him so much. The last days before he took his own life he mentioned, ‘I can’t take it, so much pressure on me. There’s no support from anywhere’.”

Senior Coroner for Manchester North, Joanne Kearsley, asked Mr Abraham: “Do you think Anu understood how difficult it might be working and doing a degree at the same time?”

Mr Abraham said, “initially” his son was confident but admitted he was “fearful” of his son joining the force, adding: “It’s a very challenging job.”

His dad added: “He always said nobody came to me and said, ‘Well done boy’. He was always criticised.

“He said, they put me on another management plan to sack him. He was under a lot of pressure and fearful.”

Ms Kearsley said records showed officers had on occasion told the young recruit he had done a good job.

Over time Anu began to feel more pressure as there was little time to get his university assignments completed due to the shifts he had to do.

The court was told he was not supported when he had to cover incidents like sudden deaths or road traffic accidents.

Read more: Anugrah Abraham's family launch funeral and legal fundraiser

In June 2022, Anu visited his GP for long-standing stress, anxiety and low mood, which his parents were not aware of.

It was said there was not anything in particular that triggered those feelings. He also had no feelings of self-harm or causing harm to others.

Although Anu told his family about some of the problems that happened at work, he was a very private person and his parents said he would often not tell them about everything.

Two weeks before Anu’s death, he had annual leave and went to Amsterdam with friends where he was described as being happy and cheerful.

Before he went on annual leave, one of his sergeants said he needed further development and was put on a management plan, which made Anu fearful that he might lose his job although this would not have been the case.

After coming back from Amsterdam, Anu said he wanted to look for another job as he said he was getting no support from work.

His parents advised him to look for another job before he left, as he was due to go back on March 4, 2023.

Read more: West Yorkshire Police faces bullying allegations after death

Two days before, on March 2, Anu visited his GP with his dad who knew he was struggling with his job.

Anu described having nightmares where he could feel his sergeant sitting on him and trying to strangle him.

He was so fearful that Mr Abraham would sometimes sleep in the same room as him.

But none of these mental health problems were mentioned at the GP appointment, only an issue with back pain was raised.

Mr Abraham said: “I was concerned about him, but I thought he was in a safe place.

“I would have raised concerns for mental health with the GP if I knew. I never thought he would self-harm.”

Hugh Davies, representing WYP, listed the support the young officer had received including from his sergeant and colleagues, and said the reason he was on a development plan was to support him.

He also had an assessor and a mentor and was referred to occupational health as well as a counsellor.

Mr Davies also said while in the force his dyslexia was spotted for the first time and he received help with that.

Mr Davies said: “Some of his friends in the police thought they got the impression the family would be disappointed if he did not finish his degree?”

“No,” replied Mr Abraham.

On March 3, the family had breakfast together at home. Mrs Abraham said Anu looked stressed, but he brushed it off.

Mrs Abraham said she just thought he had nerves due to him having his first day back to work after having two weeks off.

In the afternoon, Anu and Mr Abraham were filling in job applications for a number of different jobs.

Anu then said he was going out but did not specify where he was going. He never returned home.

This was unusual behaviour for Anu as both his parents said he would always tell them where he was going and would always answer his mobile phone.

Eventually, they became concerned and called police.

Mrs Abraham said: “That night was like a nightmare.”

Anu was found dead in woodland, the court heard.

The inquest, scheduled to last three weeks, continues.

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