A FORMER policeman told an inquest he and other officers had let a drug crazed man "down big style" by not taking him straight to hospital after he was found naked and acting strangely in a field.

Christopher Taylor, a former constable with Cleveland Police, gave his evidence wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with an image of Kirk Williams, the 26-year-old Stockton man who died on Sunday, April 17, 2011.

Mr Taylor said he wore the t-shirt "because I let this man down. I've gone through three years of hell and it makes me feel better to wear it ... we let him down big style."

Addressing Teesside assistant coroner, Sam Foulks and a jury at Teesside Coroners Court in Middlesbrough, he said he had strongly argued that Mr Williams should be taken to hospital.

However, the other five attending officers, all of the same rank, over-ruled him and took Mr Williams into police custody where his condition deteriorated. He died later after being admitted to James Cook University Hospital.

The inquest previously heard Mr Williams had drunk alcohol, taken cocaine and the stimulant MCat the previous night.

He was then seen naked in a field in Eaglescliffe, near Stockton at about 11am scratching and pulling at himself "as if trying to get a demon off him."

By the time Mr Taylor and two of his colleagues arrived at the scene Mr Williams had already been restrained and handcuffed by three other policemen.

Mr Taylor, who received training in dealing with drug users in the dangerous, life-threatening state of "excited delirium" just weeks before, moved Mr Williams onto his side and into the recovery position.

"The heat coming off him was intense," said Mr Taylor. "It was like touching a lightbulb. I have never felt a person that hot ever in my life."

Seeing Mr Williams' pupils were "the size of pinpricks" Mr Taylor radioed in they would be taking him to hospital.

But a colleague later told Mr Taylor a decision had been taken to take him into police custody instead.

Mr Taylor said he disagreed with that decision and while Mr Williams was taken in another van, he and his colleague, PC George Lutz - "my best friend" - had a "a blazing row" over the issue.

Mr Taylor said that he later tried to persuade the custody sergeant in Middlesbrough to send Mr Willliams to hospital but was ignored.

Mr Taylor said that it was his opinion that police had been negligent and agreed with criticism from the police barrister, Toby Hedworth, QC, that he should have asked the control room duty inspector to overrule the custody sergeant.

"I'll regret that until the day I die," he said.

The inquest continues.