The grieving partner of a man who died after he was struck by a police car and collapsed in custody called for a swift conclusion to his inquest. Marcia Williams said she wanted to find out how 38-year-old factory worker Michael Lloyd Powell died. He was arrested at his Birmingham home where his erratic behaviour had prompted his family to call for police and mental health experts. The inquest into his death in hospital on September 7 was opened and adjourned yesterday by Birmingham coroner Aidan Cotter, who took the unusual step of demanding that the hearing be concluded within six months. The Police Complaints Authority is carrying out an inquiry into the father-of-three's death and confirmed that he had been struck by a police car during his arrest. Although a second post-mortem examination conducted yesterday had yet to confirm Mr Powell's cause of death, Mr Cotter said nothing in the first examination suggested the arrest procedure was the cause and that he had no significant injuries from being struck by the vehicle. Outside the coroner's court, Ms Williams, aged 34, described Mr Powell, with whom she had had three children, as a "family man". She said: "All we want is justice, so we can be told how he died and why. "We just want it (the inquest) to be hurried up so I can explain to the kids what happened to their father." West Midlands Police were called to Mr Powell's home in the Lozells area shortly after midnight on September 7. He was taken to a police station in neighbouring Handsworth after a struggle outside the property, in which a window of the officers' vehicle was smashed. But he collapsed while in custody and was taken to City Hospital, where he died in the early hours. Mr Cotter told the inquest, which was packed with Mr Powell's relatives, including his sister Sharon and mother Claris, that the first post mortem had made only preliminary findings and was not conclusive. Mr Powell, known as Mikey, had no diseases, the coroner said. There was a degree of "cardiac failure" when he died, but this did not in itself indicate how he passed away. And although the Police Complaints Authority confirmed that Mr Powell had been struck by the police vehicle, the coroner said: "He has no significant injuries that were definitely caused by this. "Some external visible marks could have been caused in that way, but there are no significant features that allow the pathologist to confirm that." Mr Cotter told Detective Chief Inspector Bill Mandeville, of North-amptonshire Police, which is heading the investigation on behalf of the PCA, that he wanted the hearing concluded by March 7 next year. "I do not want this inquest to drag on," Mr Cotter told the officer. "I do not want a situation where this inquest carries on for two years while the press are fed bits and pieces of information from different sources. "I want this inquest finished by March 7 - make sure the PCA are advised on that." The coroner also told the family that he expected to be able to release Mr Powell's body for a funeral following the second post-mortem, which, unusually, would involve three pathologists. After the hearing, the family's solicitor Errol Robinson appealed for witnesses to Mr Powell's arrest to come forward. | 
