Police did not contact mental health service when man who later died found distressed in Blackpool car park

A coroner has said it is not possible know whether the outcome would have changed had the case of a 24-year-old Blackpool man found in a distressed state on a car park in the early hours of the morning been handled differently by police.

An inquest at Blackpool Town Hall heard that Dylan McEwan, also known as Dylan Smith, was found in a distressed and intoxicated condition at a multi-storey car park on Central Drive, Blackpool at around 2am in on June 13, 2023.

Police attended the scene and Dylan is said by family to have been taken home. He was last seen alive at 3.30am before being found dead at a property in Hill Street, Blackpool at around 5.55am.

After Dylan’s death, his family said they believed he should have been taken to hospital for mental health help instead of being dropped off at home - and hit out at Lancashire Police for dismissing an investigation into the events surrounding his death.

The family’s claim came after inquest into Dylan’s death had been opened and then adjourned in November 2023, pending the outcome of a possible police misconduct hearing.

But Dylan’s family were told earlier this year that the hearing had been formally discontinued because a key witness called by the officer concerned could not be traced.

The date for the resumption of the inquest was then set following the submission of a copy of the police investigation report to the coroner’s office earlier this summer.

The inquest heard that the police did not contact the Mental Health Access Line prior to Dylan’s death.

Blackpool and Fylde assistant coroner Andrew Cousins said that had such contact been made, “it cannot be ascertained as to what response would gave been provided to the police officers by the Mental Health Access Line and from the available evidence, whether this would have altered the eventual outcome”.

Mr Cousins returned a conclusion of suicide,

Dylan’s girlfriend Molly Cartmell has previously described Dylan as “a happy soul” who had never before spoken about suicide.

She said the warehouse worker was her “best friend” and his passing would “leave a hole in my heart for the rest of my life.”

“He loved his friends and family to bits,” she added. “Dylan enjoyed his job and the people he worked with. He was really a hard-working man and was always in employment.”

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