Misconduct claims against three police officers accused of lying about the movements of a musician who died in custody have been thrown out.

Police constables Mark Harratt, Richard Glasson and Matthew Forward were accused of gross misconduct after allegedly giving false accounts that musician Sean Rigg had spun himself around in the back of a police van.

But the claims were dropped on Wednesday after their lawyers successfully argued that there was no evidence they had lied.

A separate claim that Harratt failed to check the police national computer to make sure there were reasonable grounds to suspect Mr Rigg's passport was stolen was also dropped.

The trio and two other officers - ex-Pc Andrew Birks and Sergeant Paul White - still face a raft of other misconduct allegations.

Mr Rigg, 40, died at Brixton police station in 2008 having been arrested after being seen in Balham bare chested in the street aiming karate kicks at passers-by.

The five officers are accused of a string of failings in the way he was restrained and treated while in custody, and all except Birks are accused of lying about what happened afterwards.

Harratt, Glasson and Forward had all claimed that while handcuffed Mr Rigg had spun himself around in the back of the police van.

They were each accused of giving a dishonest account to the police watchdog and to the inquest into his death.

But on Wednesday a Metropolitan Police misconduct panel threw out the charges against them.

Kevin Baumber for Pc Forward told the hearing there was no evidence to show that he could not and did not make the movements.

Pc Forward filmed himself moving around in the back of a van in the way described, and suffered grazing to his elbows; similar injuries were found on Mr Rigg.

William Emlyn-Jones for Glasson told the panel: "This allegation is based exclusively on the assertion that it simply can't be true, and it can."

The misconduct panel, led by chairman Commander Julian Bennett, agreed that the evidence was "extremely tenuous" and found no case to answer.

Earlier in the proceedings on Tuesday, an expert witness for the police force changed his evidence and another's statement was ruled inadmissible because they could not attend the hearing in person.

Animator Henry Mountain initially told the hearing that it was "highly unlikely" that Mr Rigg would have been able to spin around in the way the constables described, but changed his mind when shown the video of Forward doing so.

Medical evidence relating to the claims was ruled inadmissible because former Home Office pathologist Dr Nicholas Hunt is no longer able to work, and could not attend the hearing in person to be cross-examined.

Misconduct proceedings relating to claims over the restraint of Mr Rigg, the medical help he received and officers' accounts of what happened continue.