A Bradford mother, who collapsed in a police cell after nearly 20 hours in custody, died because of a lack of alcohol.

A post-mortem examination has found the cause of Sharon Batey’s death was Acute Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome.

Now the 41-year-old mother-of-three’s family is stepping up their demands for answers about the care she received after she was arrested for being drunk in charge of a child.

An independent police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), is investigating Mrs Batey’s death in July.

The registered alcoholic, who had a six-year-old son, Connor, and two grown-up children, was arrested at her home in Browning Street, Barkerend, on July 7 and taken to the Trafalgar House police station at 4.30pm. She had been drinking vodka and was said to be intoxicated.

She told officers she was an alcoholic and asthmatic, and shortly after 1.30am the next day she was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary because of concerns she might be suffering a miscarriage. Tests showed she was not pregnant and she was taken back to the police station soon after 6am after being deemed well enough to leave hospital.

Four hours later she was seen by a doctor and placed back in a cell prior to being interviewed. But shortly after 11am she was found by an officer to have collapsed. Efforts were made to resuscitate her but she was pronounced dead at BRI shortly after midday.

After her death, Mrs Batey’s sister, Yvonne Watson, told how her doctor had warned Sharon could go into shock if she went without alcohol for a long time.

Now the family has been given a report by Home Office pathologist Professor Christop-her Milroy, who carried out the post-mortem examination.

The report says there was no evidence of traumatic damage or drug overdose to account for the death and concludes: “In my opinion the cause of death was Acute Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome on a background of chronic alcoholism.”

Prof Milroy said sudden death may occur during alcoholic withdrawal. “This may occur due to the development of abnormal rhythms of the heart.” He said collapse would occur in seconds and once cardiac arrest had occurred, outside of hospital, only a small proportion of people could be successfully resuscitated.

Mrs Watson, 38, said her sister had been promised the next available bed at Lynfield Mount Hospital after she had asked, days before her death, to be sectioned so she could have detoxification treatment for her alcohol addiction.

Last night a family spokesman said that on the day she died Mrs Batey should have been going into hospital for tests on her liver.

The spokesman said: “The pathologist’s report says the liver was non-cirrhotic. We believe it would have survived the detoxification programme under the correct level of supervision.”

The spokesman said the family felt the police had failed to care for Sharon’s welfare.

“They were aware she was a registered alcoholic. The longer they kept her the worse she got. Anybody knows an alcoholic who doesn’t get their fix is going to go into withdrawal.

“It was the fact she didn’t have any alcohol that caused her death. That raises questions about police procedures for dealing with someone like this.”

A spokesman for the IPCC said the investigation was nearing a conclusion. He confirmed investigators would be meeting the family next week.

He said: “It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage, but we hope the investigation will answer the family’s questions.”

Solicitor Graham Goldsbor-ough, who will be representing the family during the IPCC investigation and at the forthcoming inquest, said: “We are still very concerned about what happened. We will reserve our position until we have the full facts.”

The inquest, which will be held before a jury, is not expected to take place until next year.

l Mrs Batey’s funeral was due to take place today.