Ex-rugby player 'beaten by police'

Luke Rhoden

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

A FORMER Oldham Roughyeds player was violently beaten by Spanish police before his death in Ibiza on a stag party, an inquest has been told.

Luke Rhoden, 25, a prop forward who joined Roughyeds in 2010 from Wigan Warriors, is believed to have suffered a heart attack outside the Ibiza Rocks Hotel in the resort of San Antonio after he "slipped" off a hotel balcony and was detained by officers.

Friends said he had been behaving erratically before his death and believed "people were chasing him" and they feared he had taken drugs.

Annabelle Smith, 24, who was working as a holiday rep and filmed the incident on a mobile phone from her balcony, told an inquest jury at Bolton Coroner's Court that Luke was struck with batons several times.

Miss Smith said she saw Luke running around and grunting outside the hotel with police following. He sat down but began banging his head against a wall.

Miss Smith said the police pinned him to the floor and he was "flailing his arms and legs around in the air".

She said: "The police had black plastic batons. One of the police officers hit Luke on the legs with the baton more than once. One time when he struck him the baton flew out of his hands and bounced up the road. To me, that was too much force."

More police officers arrived, the jury was told, before Luke began to scream out and call for his mum.

Miss Smith said his hands were cuffed and his legs tied as officers sat on him.

She added: "He had a black eye and blood around his face. I'm sure I remember them using batons on him when people were sat on him."

Ambulance

The witness said the police were with him for "10 to 15 minutes" before a doctor and an ambulance arrived. A drip was attached to his leg and Miss Smith said she heard a heart monitor sounding.

She told the jury that efforts were made to massage his heart before she saw him "motionless".

In a statement at the time, the jury heard she claimed Luke was shouting "they are going to kill me" ­- a reference she said she believed meant the Spanish Civil Guard officers.

Luke, a business consultant from Ince in Wigan who saw his rugby career ended by a knee injury, was pronounced dead at the scene in September, 2014.

He was due to be the best man at his friend Michael Rutter's wedding and had organised the trip.

Mr Rutter said Luke became lost from the group shortly after they arrived at Cafe Mambo to watch the sunset on the beach on the second night.

The group had been drinking earlier that day.

Mr Rutter said Luke arrived back at the hotel later ­- "sweating and paranoid, saying people were after him".

He said: "He was going in an out of being him and not being him. People were trying to calm him down. I had never seen him like that."

The jury was told Luke was taken back to his room to bed. Water was left with him and his friends went out.

Mr Rutter said Luke told him that he was OK and would come out later.

The friends, however, returned back to the hotel in the early hours to be told the news.

'Diluted'

Luke's father, Norman Rhoden, said he spoke to him days before the party left.

He said: "He was very excited about it. I told him to be careful and to be safe. He did not to my knowledge take drugs. There was never a time when I had cause to suspect he had taken drugs."

Mr Rhoden claims evidence from Spanish authorities has been "diluted" and questioned the "validity and quality" of the autopsy carried out.

Luke's mother, Heidi Noronha, flew out to Ibiza and viewed CCTV footage taken inside the hotel.

She described Luke's behaviour as "like an animal".

"It did not look like him, " she said. "He was very agitated. It was like he was coming in and out of something. He was telling people to go with his arms ­- they tried to contain him. It was just not like Luke. You could evidently see that he was not right."

Mrs Noronha said she believes a bag of white powder was found in the room.

She added: "I just want him to rest in peace. I want to find out what police did to him if they did."