Report raises alarm over police detention of vulnerable suspects in England and Wales

Hundreds of thousands of people interviewed without appropriate adult present, report says

Police officers detained and interviewed hundreds of thousands of vulnerable suspects last year in England and Wales in breach of mandatory safeguards, according to the body that sets standards for those who support vulnerable adults in police custody.

The failure by officers to provide an appropriate adult (AA) to people with mental illness, autism or learning disabilities leaves those people at risk of miscarriages of justice, suicide and self-harm, the National Appropriate Adult Network (Naan) says in a report published on Monday.