POLICE are to launch an internal investigation after a man slashed his own throat in a city Tesco store.

The Post has now established that officers at the scene used a Taser to subdue him to prevent him causing himself further harm.

He is still in hospital after the horrific incident at the TescoExtra superstore in Fforestfach on Tuesday.

Because police were there when he injured himself, the matter had to be referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission as a matter of routine to meet legal requirements.

Now, the IPCC has decided it will not need to investigate the matter itself — although the commission will play a supervisory role in the police inquiry, and that is likely to take several weeks to complete.

A force spokesman said: "The professional standards department of South Wales Police will, as is usual in these circumstances, carry out an investigation. It will be supervised by the IPCC."

The 28-year-old man, who is from the Swansea area, went into the Tesco store at around 10.15pm on Tuesday, took a knife from the kitchenware section and then went upstairs.

By then, staff had become suspicious of his behaviour and called the police.

Officers, including some armed police, were deployed and evacuated shoppers and staff from the store.

It is after they arrived that the man injured himself.

Although the police cannot comment on the incident as the investigation is still active, the Post has established a Taser was used to stop the man causing himself any further harm.

He was taken to Morriston Hospital where his condition has since improved.

A spokesman for the IPCC told the Post: "Police will take the lead in carrying out the investigation.

"They will submit terms of reference at the start of it. When they eventually submit their report, we will compare it to those terms of reference to ensure they have done what they said they would do at the outset."

paul.lewis@swwmedia.co.uk