Crime

A police force investigating the death of a young mother refused to release CCTV images of a man she was seen kissing hours earlier because it would “breach his human rights”, an inquest has heard.

Jamie Smith, 23, died after falling from a multi-storey car park in Portsmouth, following a night out in November last year.

Traces of the drug ketamine were found in her system and her devastated family believe she may have been spiked by an unidentified man she was spotted with in a club that evening.

Julie Stephenson, Smith’s mother, has urged detectives from Hampshire police to share images of the stranger in the hope of finding out why her daughter died.

But a detective sergeant, who gave evidence at the inquest, said while the force had made efforts to trace the man, they were unable to release CCTV because it would be “against his human rights”.

Smith spent the afternoon before her death visiting a Christmas market. But after meeting an unidentified man, she went to an adult entertainment club in Portsmouth, called Wiggle, where CCTV captured the pair kissing.

Footage of her final moments showed her unsteady on her feet as she left the club alone, followed about 30 seconds later by the unidentified man.