Inquest links bungled police raid to Cherry Turner’s suicide; wrong arrest sparked years of grief

A South Tyneside inquest has concluded that a bungled armed police raid on a Newcastle home helped trigger an anxiety disorder that contributed to Cherry Turner’s suicide, a finding that also left the families of Turner and her fiancé, Craig Jackson, seeking accountability over the botched operation.

The inquest examined the December 12, 2021 raid, during which armed officers and dogs stormed the couple’s home and arrested Craig Jackson in his boxer shorts on suspicion of armed robbery, driving a stolen car and using a burner phone. Northumbria Police later acknowledged that officers had arrested the wrong man, but it took two months to tell the couple that Craig was no longer under investigation. The narrative verdict tied the raid itself to Cherry Turner’s mental distress and subsequent death in July 2022.

The inquest heard that, after the mistaken arrest, Cherry’s anxiety intensified as she remained convinced the investigation would re-emerge and that the police could return, or already be listening to her home. The jury’s verdict stated the raid sparked an anxiety disorder that contributed to her suicide. For her relatives, the finding fractured any remaining sense of closure from the years of unanswered questions surrounding the incident.

Craig Jackson died in January this year after years of health struggles linked to his partner’s loss. He had received a kidney transplant from his father in 2017 but refused dialysis treatment after Cherry’s death, telling family members that he could not live without her. In the inquest, his father, Ian Jackson, said he had “lost complete faith” in Northumbria Police and criticized the force for allowing the protracted investigation to continue when they knew the wrong man had been arrested. He described the officers’ conduct as a catalyst for the tragedy and said the consequences were fatal for two families.

The inquest also heard that messages between officers suggested some realization that the officers may have identified the wrong man, though the investigation continued to pursue the suspect linked to the broader offence. Paul Dunn, the solicitor representing Cherry Turner’s family, told the hearing that the operation was not a routine knock on the door but a highly intrusive raid, with multiple police vehicles and an armed response team arresting Craig while Turner remained at home.

“The police knew they had the wrong man the next day and should have put it right there and then,” Dunn said. “If they had, Cherry’s mental health would not have deteriorated.” The hearing highlighted the lasting psychological impact on Turner’s family, including her father, David Turner, who described life as a “life sentence of pain,” and who said the family would never stop seeking accountability.

In a statement after the inquest, a Northumbria Police spokesperson said the force’s thoughts remained with the families of Cherry Turner and Craig Jackson, adding that investigators had apologised for failings identified in the investigation and that the force would carefully consider the coroner’s findings.

The families’ statements and the inquest’s conclusions have added to calls for clearer protocols around armed police operations and the handling of misidentifications, especially when they involve vulnerable individuals whose mental health could be affected by such intrusions. Turner’s family spoke of a life spent waiting for answers and urged that Cherry’s story be heard so that similar tragedies might be prevented in the future.

As the investigation and coroner’s process conclude, the case has reignited broader debates about accountability and the human impact of police misidentification in the UK, underscoring the heavy toll that such operational errors can exact on families who are already navigating grief.