A POLICE watchdog has finished its investigation into the death of a High Wycombe man who passed away almost three hours after being released from police custody.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has concluded its probe into the death of Marcus Cottoy, 31, but it will not release its findings until after an inquest is held.

Mr Cottoy was arrested shortly after midnight on Sunday, March 21 on suspicion of causing criminal damage at a pub in London Road and was taken into custody at 12.44am at Amersham Police Station.

Police said Mr Cottoy was assessed by medics at around 6.30am and later sectioned under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act.

He was released into medical care at about 2pm but, after his condition deteriorated, he was taken to Stoke Mandeville Hospital where he died at 4.44pm.

A post mortem discovered three packages containing white powder in Mr Cottoy's bowel. One of the bags had ruptured. There was no evidence of an assault.

The IPCC was passed the case by Thames Valley Police after Mr Cottoy died within 24 hours of being taken into custody.

IPCC commissioner Mike Franklin said: “Our investigation into this case is now complete and we have passed our findings to HM Coroner so that it can inform the inquest into Mr Cottoy’s death.

“A young man dying in these kind of circumstances is tragic and it is important that it is scrutinised to see if anything could have been done to prevent it.”