A woman who was the victim of police brutality in 2012 has been found dead in her cell at Holloway Prison.

An investigation has now been launched into the death of Sarah Reed, 32, who was found unresponsive in her cell at 8am on January 11, the Ministry of Justice said.

Despite attempted CPR by prison staff, she was pronounced dead shortly after.

It is not yet clear how she died.

A police spokeswoman said: “As with all deaths in custody, the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an investigation.”

According to civil rights camapigner Lee Jasper, Ms Reed’s family claimed that they received a phone call on January 11 from the prison informing them that she was dead, claiming that she had ‘strangled’ herself whilst lying on her bed.

He also wrote that the prison requested the family to immediately come to the jail but when they arrived they were refused their rights to see her body.

The news comes just over three years after Ms Reed was punched in the head by police officer James Kiddie, 46, at the Uniqlo store in Regent Street.

The shocking attack in November 2012 was captured on CCTV and shows the officer pushing her, grabbing her by the hair, throwing her onto the floor in the corridor before raining down three blows to her head.

After fellow officers saw the footage from the store’s detention room cameras they reported him to the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, and Kiddie was removed from operational duties while an investigation was launched.

He was summoned for common assault in May 2013 and in February 2014 he was found guilty of common assault, and sentenced the month after.