THREE Sussex Police officers will face misconduct hearings over the death of a man who fell unconscious in a police van.

Epileptic Duncan Tomlin died after becoming unconscious in the back of the van in July 2014.

Sussex Police yesterday told a pre-inquest hearing that three officers involved were being considered for misconduct proceedings. A fourth will be subjected to a less serious internal disciplinary investigation.

The announcement follows a decision from the Crown Prosecution Service last week that the officers involved would not face criminal charges.

Solicitors representing Duncan’s father Paul told the hearing they were still considering seeking a judicial review in the hope the officers involved can be prosecuted.

Last week the Crown Prosecution Service concluded that the officers involved would not face criminal charges.

Jude Bunting, representing the Tomlin family, said they still had not been told the reasons behind the CPS decision not to prosecute.

He added: “We reserve the rights legally to make challenges to that decision and once we have seen the reasoning behind the decision may still seek a judicial review.

“The decision as to whether criminal prosecution will follow is still not final.”

Susan Muirhead representing Sussex Police said: “We are considering disciplinary proceedings against one officer and misconduct proceedings against three.”

She added that they expected the process to take two to three months.

Assistant coroner Elisabeth Bussey-Jones said that the inquest would take place before the disciplinary process had been completed.

In April 2016 the Independent Police Complaints Commission asked the CPS to consider charges against the officers involved.

But the CPS decided not to proceed. The Tomlin family then sought a review of the decision which was against refused last week – with the Director of Public Prosecutions concluding there was “not a realistic prospect of conviction”.

Paul Tomlin said he was “bitterly disappointed” following the decision.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: “This remains an investigation led by the Independent Office for Police Conduct and we are liaising with them with regard to the next steps.

“The officers concerned have continued in their roles during the three and a half years of this investigation, with the exception of one who has resigned in the interim.

“The misconduct reference is to gross misconduct hearings and the disciplinary action reference is to a misconduct meeting. We do not comment on misconduct meetings.

“We will not comment on individual cases at this time while the IOPC investigation and any subsequent misconduct procedures continue. However, the officer who resigned was a police constable.”

Duncan was detained after officers were called to a disturbance at his partner’s home in Ryecroft, Haywards Heath.

He was detained and fell unconscious in the back of a police van. He was removed from the van in South Road just after midnight.

He was not breathing, CPR was performed, and he was subsequently transferred by ambulance to the Princess Royal Hospital where he died two days later.

A full inquest will now not be heard until more than four years after his death.

The assistant coroner said she would be seeking expert witnesses to assess whether Duncan died from asphyxia as well as experts in neurology to assess the effects of his epilepsy. A further pre-inquest review hearing will be heard on June 25.