A senior officer has admitted to a "failure of oversight" after a mentally ill black man, who was restrained by police in Catford, died in custody.

Pc Steven Speakman was "the most senior officer at the scene" for a large part of the incident in which Kevin Clarke was handcuffed and then escorted to an ambulance by police.

But he admitted that there was a lack of communication between himself and other officers, and was not adequately updated on the situation when he returned from making a phone call to the London Ambulance Service (LAS).

Leslie Thomas, representing the family of Mr Clarke, said that Pc Speakman had failed to respond to the incident as a "medical emergency".

"You've got the ability to stand back and see what's happening. So you're not, as it were, in the fray," he said.

"You are the one officer, you've got experience and you're not in real time in the physicality of what's going on.

"So you would have been in the position to offer oversight to the other officers.

"You failed to offer oversight. You knew very early on that it was a medical emergency."

Mr Clarke was taken to Lewisham hospital following the incident on March 9 2018, but later died.

He had spoken to police officers earlier that day who described him as "chilled", but was later reported to have been seen jumping over garden fences.

Mr Thomas added that communication between the officers had been poor, and suggested that Pc Speakman should have done more to monitor the situation.

"This isn't a free for all, officers are supposed to communicate with each other, isn't that right?" he said.

"Your colleagues were saying that this was a medical emergency from the off. A medical emergency is a serious matter.

"If any officer formed the view that this was a medical emergency that would be communicated among the team, wouldn't you expect?

"It's your job to make enquiries, has anything happened?"

Pc Speakman replied: "For me the medical emergency was the mental health and restraint - that's the point for me that it crystalised.

"Perhaps I could have asked if there'd been any development but that wasn't clear - the fact is that it wasn't communicated to me.

"On reflection, I perhaps should have."

Pc Cheryl Webber, who arrived on the scene later, replacing Pc Speakman as the most senior officer and taking on a supervisory role, said she had been satisfied with officers' conduct until that point.

"I have to trust they've used their powers correctly," she said

Pc Webber said that the incident had not been a "failure", but that lessons needed to be learnt from it.

"After reviewing some bodyworn footage and some things that have come out of today, definitely communication with the paramedics (could be improved), that would be paramount for me going forward," she said.

"I think that we followed the procedure and the guidelines given by our training."

The inquest at Southwark Coroner's court continues.