'Police didn't leave Ben safe, they failed to care for him'

Family's anger after de-arrested man was later hit by car on motorway and died

- By PAUL BRITTON

THE family of a man who died after being left by police at a Metrolink stop miles from his home in the early hours have said 'the system failed him massively.

They said father-of-four Benjamin Connor was 'unsafely de-arrested' at Cornbrook 'at gone lam in the morning with no phone, no money, no bank cards - and no way of getting anywhere. He went on to be hit by a taxi around two miles away, on the M602 in Salford, almost two hours later.

He died from his injuries in hospital. The driver could do nothing to avoid him after witnesses reported him walking into oncoming traffic near the Regent Road roundabout.

Mr Connor's sister, Billie-Jo Connor, has now spoken out to pay tribute to him after a jury at an inquest ruled he died from 'a road traffic collision, contributed to by neglect' on the part of officers involved.

The inquest heard evidence Greater Manchester Police has 'introduced, published and implemented a new de-arrest policy. The force said 'both individual and organisational learning relating to the safeguarding which should've taken place, and policy' was identified during a subsequent investigation into the tragedy.