A police officer has denied there was a leadership "free-for-all" in a case in which a mentally-ill black man died after being restrained by officers in Catford.

Pc John Buckingham said that there had been a "collective" responsibility during the incident, and that officers would have "automatically" known the roles they were to carry out.

The inquest at Southwark Coroner's court into Kevin Clarke's death heard that much of the officers' action at the scene had been down to their training.

Mr Clarke, 35, a relapsing paranoid schizophrenic, was found in a field and was restrained by officers when he began showing signs of acute behavioural disorder (ABD).

Mr Clarke had been spoken to by officers earlier that day, but was not sectioned, despite concern from staff at his residential housing block.

"I believe that as a collective we were in charge, I can't speak for my colleagues," said Pc Buckingham.

"We're trained that if a person is unresponsive or violent then handcuffs are required to the rear.

"Mr Clarke was placed in limb restraints so that he wouldn't further hurt himself, myself or my colleagues in the immediate area.

"In that situation we would automatically request leg restraints."

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But senior coroner Andrew Harris suggested that since there was no specific individual leading the officers, opportunities had been missed.

The court was previously shown footage in which Mr Clarke can be heard to say "I can't breathe" and "I'm going to die".

"No-one was actually monitoring what he was saying and so it wasn't heard. There's seven or eight of you there," said Mr Harris.

"None of you heard it because no-one had the job of specifically listening.

"If you had known definitely that one person among you was in charge, would that have changed your decision to speak out?"

Pc Buckingham said he did not think having a designated leader would have changed the decisions made.

"Ideally it would be best if one person took the lead," he said, but could not explain why no-one had done so on the day of the incident.

"People automatically, if they are used to that situation, find a role and carry out that role and if anyone has any questions it would be a case of speak up, speak out.

"It has to remain fluid and people need to take up roles as needed."

Leslie Thomas, representing Mr Clarke's family, said that the officers had made "assumptions" and the lack of proper leadership had exacerbated the situation.

"This isn't a small risk, this is a really serious matter. It is in matters of life and death that you restrain," he said.

"You don't make assumptions, particularly when you know there are risks of sudden death.

Referring to footage of Mr Clarke being restrained he said: "There isn't any explanation given to (Mr Clarke), there was no reason why an explanation wasn't given to him.

"It didn't enter your head, did it?

"This was a free-for-all."

Pc Buckingham denied that the system of collective leadership had failed Mr Clarke.

"I don't believe that," he said.

"You could argue it could have been better, but I felt everyone did the best they could in the situation and it wouldn't have mattered if the role (of safety officer) had changed.

"I don't think it made any difference to how we carried out our actions."

Earlier another officer said that Mr Clarke's breathing may have been "compromised" as he was moved to the ambulance, but said no concerns had been raised by medical specialists at the time.

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

The inquest continues.