Four tram staff who restrained a man who died will be charged with manslaughter, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.
Jack Barnes, 29, from Hull, was held by four “customer service representatives” monitoring anti-social behaviour on the Metrolink tram system in Manchester in October 2016.
The father-of-one died on 2 December – just weeks after the incident outside Victoria Station in Manchester city centre.
Senior coroner for Manchester, Nigel Meadows, ruled the death was an unlawful killing in March 2021, following an inquest.
The restraint “more than minimally, trivially or negligibly contributed to the cardiac arrest”, he added.
Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS special crime division, said: “Paul Fogarty, 50, Brian Gartside, 59, Stephen Rowlands, 67, and Matthew Sellers, 29, who were staff members subcontracted by Metrolink at the time, are to be charged with unlawful act manslaughter.
“Mr Rowlands will also be charged with a single offence of perverting the course of justice relating to a witness statement.
“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against these defendants are active and that they have the right to a fair trial.
“It is extremely important there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
Fogarty, from Bolton, Gartside from Rochdale, Rowlands, from Bolton, and Sellers, from Bury, all Greater Manchester, will appear at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on a date yet to be fixed.
