FOUR men died last year after incidents involving North Yorkshire Police, Home Office figures show.

The total was the sixth highest in the country, but was affected by a new way of recording the deaths.

Under the new system, all fatalities where an individual has had even limited contact with the police in the run-up to their death are recorded.

The figures cover April 2002 to March 2003.

The one death in police custody was of 33-year-old Ripon man John McDonnell, who died at a Scarborough police station on March 30 this year.

An internal inquiry by the force's complaints and professional standards section, and supervised by the Police Complaints Authority PCA), is under way.

The PCA is waiting to start its inquiry into the death of Mark Beal, 21, of South Milford, who died in a car crash near Tadcaster.

The Subaru Impreza in which Mr Beal was travelling, had been spotted several times by police before the crash, on January 2 this year. It was not being chased.

The man alleged to have been driving the car, Benjamin Robert Kaye, will in February face trial for causing death by dangerous driving while over the drink-drive limit.

The PCA investigation will begin after the trial.

An 18-year-old man died after being hit by a civilian car on the A1 in September last year. He had twice been picked up by police earlier in the day.

A 33-year-old died from

pneumonia on January 10. He collapsed at York Fulford Road police station, where officers tried to revive him, but he later died in hospital.

Files on both deaths are with the PCA.

Force spokesman Tony Lidgate said: "The only common factor with these four deaths is that each was a tragedy. Common links cannot be learned from incidents as disparate as these, but what these events do is reinforce something we believe very strongly in, the police duty of care. It is a built in and a fundamental part of policing. We believe in every case there has got to be the most vigorous possible examination to establish the facts.

"We must learn lessons from all investigations. There must be a comprehensive examination because the coroner, the PCA and other forces will study that examination."

Updated: 10:48 Monday, November 24, 2003