Category: Police

Ghani v Jones: CA 1970

The court was asked as to the powers of the police to retain objects taken and impounded.
Held: The privacy and possessions of an individual were not to be invaded except for the most compelling reasons.
Lord Denning MR said: ‘Balancing these interests, I should have thought that, in order to justify the taking of an article, when no man has been arrested or charged, these requisites must be satisfied: First: The police officers must have reasonable grounds for believing that a serious offence has been committed – so serious that it is of the first importance that the offenders should be caught and brought to justice. Second: The police officers must have reasonable grounds for believing that the article in question is either the fruit of the crime (as in the case of stolen goods) or is the instrument by which the crime was committed (as in the case of the axe used by the murderer) or is material evidence to prove the commission of the crime (as in the case of the car used by a bank raider or the saucer used by a train robber). Third: The police officers must have reasonable grounds to believe that the person in possession of it has himself committed the crime, or is implicated in it, or is accessory to it, or at any rate his refusal must be quite unreasonable. Fourth: The police must not keep the article, nor prevent its removal, for any longer than is reasonably necessary to complete their investigations or preserve it for evidence. If a copy will suffice, it should be made and the original returned. As soon as the case is over, or it is decided not to go on with it, the article should be returned. Finally: The lawfulness of the conduct of the police must be judged at the time, and not by what happens afterwards’. Police should be able to do whatever is necessary and reasonable to preserve the evidence of the crime.

Judges:

Lord Denning MR

Citations:

[1970] 1 QB 693

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Thakur Persad Jaroo v Attorney-General of Trinidad and Tobago PC 4-Feb-2002
(Trinidad and Tobago) The appellant sought a declaration that his constitutional rights had been infringed. He had bought a car. When told it may be stolen, he took it to the police station, but after he heard nothing and it was not returned. He . .
Cited – Regina v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis, ex parte Rottman HL 16-May-2002
The defendant had been arrested under an extradition warrant issued under the Act. The police had searched his premises, and found further evidence which was used to support the application for extradition. He challenged the collection and admission . .
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Morrison Admn 4-Apr-2003
The Director appealed dismissal of charges under the Acts against the respondent. There had been a fight in a shopping mall. The mall was private land over which there was a public right of way. The respondent objected when the officer taped off an . .
Cited – Settelen and Another v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis ChD 29-Sep-2004
The claimants had made application for tapes held by the respondent to be released. The claimant offered undertakings as to their preservation, and agreement had been reached. The outstanding issue was as to costs. The tapes were recorded by the . .
Cited – Merseyside Police v Owens Admn 31-May-2012
The police had refused to returns items seized from Mr Owens on the basis that to do so would indirectly encourage and assist him in suspected criminal activity. CCTV footage had been removed from him to attempt identify an arsonist of a house.The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 11 June 2022; Ref: scu.179825

Cleveland Police Authority and Another, Regina (on the Application of) v Knapper: Admn 23 Mar 2004

Application for judicial review by the Cleveland Police Authority in respect of a decision of a medical referee who was concerned in deciding, under the relevant regulations whether the ex-police officer in question had suffered injury in the execution of his duty. If he had, he was entitled to an extra amount by way of pension and gratuity over and above that which was available to him, having retired from the Force on the grounds of ill health.

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 770 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.197065

Weir v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police: CA 29 Jan 2003

An off duty police officer had borrowed a marked police van without permission to help his girlfriend move house. The claimant appeared to be rummaging through his girlfriend’s belongings. The claimant refused to obey officer who was employed by the respondent. He was assaulted, and placed in the rear of a police van. He appealed dismissal of his claim against the Chief Constable.
Held: The officer had identified himself as a constable, and was using a police van: ‘when taking hold of Mr Weir, throwing him down the stairs, assaulting him and locking him in the police van saying he was taking him to the police station …PC Dudley was apparently acting as a constable, albeit one who was behaving very badly. It is clearly fair that Mr Weir should recover for the assault and the injuries caused and for the time he was forcibly confined in the van.’ The nature of an officer’s duties meant that the responsibility of a chief constable would be wider than might apply for other employments. Though the officer had acted unlawfully, his behaviour was not so far outside the nature of his work, and the Chief Constable had vicarious liability.

Judges:

Tuckey, Latham, LJJ, Sir Denis Henry

Citations:

Times 04-Feb-2003, [2003] ICR 708

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Hutchinson v Metropolitan Police Commissioner and Another QBD 27-Jul-2005
The claimant sought damages for assault by a probationary constable. The constable had been called to a drunken party for Sainsbury’s employees.
Held: The claimant had been assaulted. Miss Morgan had introduced herself as a police officer, had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Vicarious Liability, Police

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.178852

Merseyside Police Authority, Regina (on the Application Of) v Gidlow and Another: Admn 8 Dec 2004

Whether a police officer’s diagnosed adjustment disorder or mixed anxiety/depression was ‘an injury received in the execution of his duty as a police constable’ within the meaning of the regulations.

Judges:

Mr Justice Stanley Burnton

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 2807 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Pensions Regulations 1987 H2

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police, Personal Injury

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.220127

Gough and Another v The Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police: CA 2 Mar 2004

The claimants sought return of vehicle parts from the police. The police replied that the goods had been tampered with in such a way as to suggest they may have been stolen, and that they were therefore kept, even after the finish of the court procedings against the claimants, to ascertain their ownership under the 1984 Act.
Held: The police had no authority to retain the goods once detention for criminal proceedings was unnecessary. Public policy reasons were insufficient to justify continued detention.
Park J referred to Lyons, and said: ‘First, I assume that in practice the regular use of the 1897 Act is for the straightforward and simple cases which Lord Widgery had in mind, and that it is rare for the ways in which the magistrates deal with applications under the Act to give rise to appeals . . I think [it], obvious that the police must use the Act frequently to deal with matters where they find themselves in possession of items of property which they do not want to keep but do not know whether they can legitimately destroy them or what else they can do with them. In such cases the police will understandably wish to have the protection of a court order before destroying or otherwise disposing of the goods. Second, although the magistrates’ powers do extend to making orders which can affect possessory or ownership rights, I do not think that it is a main purpose of the Act that it should be used in order definitively to resolve issues of that nature. It is noteworthy that s.1(2) provides that an order under s.1(1) does not affect the right of any person to take (within six months) legal proceedings against any person in possession of property delivered by virtue of the s1(1) order. Such proceedings would, I take it, be brought in the civil courts, not in the Magistrates Court which made the order.’
and ‘in my opinion, despite the use of the word ‘may’ in the Police (Property) Act and despite the feature that the Act refers to ownership rather than to possession, it would not be a proper exercise of discretion by the magistrates to refuse to order a return of property to the only known person who is admittedly entitled to possession of it at common law.’
Lord Justice Potter said: ‘We are bound by the decisions of this court in Webb and Costello (in which the decision in Jackson does not appear to have been cited or considered). Nonetheless, I find it inherently rebarbative that, by means of civil proceedings in detinue based on the superior possessory title of the claimant over property held by the police following seizure in the course of investigating a suspected offence, a person may be held entitled to recover and continue to enjoy property even though the court may be satisfied that he is not the true owner and has acquired the property illegally, albeit the true owner is not identifiable. It seems to me that the terms of the 1897 Act are such that, in those circumstances, magistrates may well not be obliged to make an order in favour of such a claimant and in that respect the decision of Maurice Kay J in ex P. Carter may need revisiting should a case arise where the issue is a live one.’

Judges:

The Hon Mr Justice Park Lord Justice Potter Lord Justice Carnwath

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 206, Times 04-Mar-2004

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police (Property) Act 1897, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 22, Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Webb v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police CA 26-Nov-1999
The Police had confiscated money suspected to be the proceeds of drug trafficking, but no offence was proved. The magistrates had refused to return the money under the 1897 Act. The claimants now sought to reciver it under civil proceedings.
Cited – Costello v Chief Constable of Derbyshire Constabulary CA 22-Mar-2001
The police seized a car from Mr Costello, believing that it was stolen. The seizure was lawful at the time, by virtue of section 19 of PACE. The police never brought any criminal proceedings against Mr Costello, but they refused to return the car to . .
Cited – Chief Constable of West Midlands Police v White CA 13-Mar-1992
After conviction for licensing offences, the police seized a sum of money from the respondent which they alleged was the proceeds of unlicensed sales. The magistrates made no order on conviction, so the police brought the issue under the Act. The . .
Cited – Raymond Lyons and Co Ltd v Metropolitan Police Commissioner QBD 1975
A suspected thief had left a valuable ring with the claimant jewellers for valuation. They reported the matter to the police and handed the ring to them. The suspected thief never reappeared, and no-one claiming to be the true owner emerged. The . .
Cited – Jackson v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police QBD 22-Oct-1993
Mr Jackson was convicted of a drugs offence. On arrest, the police had seized money in his possession. No order as to the money was made at the trial. Mr Jackson applied under the Act. The magistrate accepted that Mr Jackson was the owner of the . .
Cited – Regina v Quinn CACD 15-Mar-1994
Police must follow the published Code of Practice, when conducting identity parades, and may not substitute their own. If the evidence is allowed in despite the breach, the judge should explain the significance of the breach to the jury, as it may . .

Cited by:

Cited – Settelen and Another v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis ChD 29-Sep-2004
The claimants had made application for tapes held by the respondent to be released. The claimant offered undertakings as to their preservation, and agreement had been reached. The outstanding issue was as to costs. The tapes were recorded by the . .
Cited – Scopelight Ltd and Others v Chief of Police for Northumbria CA 5-Nov-2009
The claimant sought return of items removed by the defendants under the 1984 Act. A decision had been made against a prosecution by the police. The police wished to hold onto the items to allow a decision from the second defendant.
Held: The . .
Cited – O’Leary International Ltd v North Wales Police Admn 31-May-2012
The company employed drivers to cross the UK. They were stopped and did not have the requisite drivers records. Instead they produced certificates as to having had rest days. These proved false, and the drivers said that the had been produced for . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.194098

Regina v Police Complaints Authority ex parte Green: HL 26 Feb 2004

Discovery was sought of statements created during the investigation of a complaint against a police officer. The claimant argued that a police officer had deliberately driven his car at him.
Held: The investigation by a separate police force satisfied the high requirement for investigations of allegations against law enforcement officers, and was human rights compliant. Therefore there was no way around the effect of section 80 which prevented such disclosure.
Lord Carswell approved dicta of Simon Brown LJ in the Court of Appeal: ‘For the sake of completeness, I would add that I agree with the judgment of Simon Brown LJ rather than that of Chadwick LJ on the ability of the Authority to re-open an investigation if they think it necessary in the light of representations made or evidence supplied following the issue of a provisional decision letter.’

Judges:

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Carswell

Citations:

[2004] UKHL 6, Times 27-Feb-2004, Gazette 25-Mar-2004, [2004] 1 WLR 725, [2004] 2 All ER 209, [2004] HRLR 19, [2004] UKHRR 939

Links:

House of Lords, Bailii

Statutes:

Police Act 1996 80

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – McCann and Others v The United Kingdom ECHR 6-Oct-1995
Wrong assumptions made by police officers in the killing of terrorists amounted to a human rights breach, despite the existence of danger to the public of an imminent attack. Article 2(1) is ‘one of the most fundamental provisions in the . .
Cited – Assenov and Others v Bulgaria ECHR 28-Oct-1998
An allegation of violence by a police officer did require a thorough, impartial and careful investigation by a suitable and independent state authority: ‘The court considers that in these circumstances, where an individual raises an arguable claim . .
At First Instance – Regina (Green) v Police Complaints Authority and Others QBD 21-Dec-2001
The applicant complained about a breach of his human rights by police behaviour and sought to inspect statements made by eye witnesses to the incidents complained of. The Police Complaints Authority replied that it was necessary for their function . .
Appeal From – The Police Complaints Authority and Others v Regina CA 26-Mar-2002
Simon Brown LJ said: ‘Given the PCA’s right under section 76(7)(b) to such other information as they need for the purpose of reaching their section 76 decision, I am inclined to think that, if, after obtaining the complainant’s comments upon any . .

Cited by:

Cited – Saunders and Tucker, Regina (on the Application of) v The Association of Chief Police Officers and others Admn 10-Oct-2008
The deceased had been shot by police during an armed siege. His family complained that the Independent Police Complaints Commission had declined to order the officers not to confer with each other before making statements.
Held: The authority . .
Cited – The Independent Police Complaints Commission, Regina (On the Application of) v Commissioner Of Police Of the Metropolis Admn 3-Jul-2009
Delay defeated Request for review
A police dog had bitten a child on his arrest. His mother complained and again at the handling of her complaint by the IPCC. The MPS had disciplined in accordance with a letter from the IPCC, and having acted refused to re-open the complaint.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Human Rights

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.193889

McGibbon and Corstorphine v Her Majesty’s Advocate: HCJ 19 Feb 2004

It was conceded that there had been a breach of article 8 in the obtaining of covert video and audio recordings of the appellants’ incriminating conversations.
Held: If there was a breach by the police of article 8, it did not follow that the evidence thereby obtained was inadmissible. Any breach of article 8 in the obtaining of the evidence was due to acts of the police, not the Lord Advocate.
Lord Justice Clerk Gill said that the act that was relevant to section 57(2) of the Scotland Act 1998 was the act of the Lord Advocate in leading the evidence.

Judges:

Lord Johnston And Lord Justice Clerk And Lord Wheatley

Citations:

[2004] ScotHC 13, 2004 SCCR 193, 2004 JC 60

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Act 1997, European Convention on Human Rights 6 8, Scotland Act 1998 57(2)

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Cited by:

Cited – Kinloch v Her Majesty’s Advocate SC 19-Dec-2012
The appellant said that the police officers had acted unlawfully when collecting the evidence used against him, in that the information used to support the request for permission to undertake clandestine surveillance had been insufficiently . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Evidence, Police, Human Rights

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.193809

Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Lennon: CA 20 Feb 2004

The claimant police officer considered being transferred to Northern Ireland. He asked and was incorrectly told that his housing allowance would not be affected by taking time off work.
Held: The break between employments had affected his entitlements. The finding of a duty of care and its breach involved no new extension of the law. The officer had assumed responsibility to the claimant for the advice, and was responsible and had access to special knowledge. The relationship between the claimant and respondent was not that of employer and employee, but for these purposes was sufficiently close.

Judges:

Lord Justice Mummery Lord Justice Ward Lord Justice Rix

Citations:

[2004] EWCA Civ 130, Times 25-Feb-2004, Gazette 18-Mar-2004, [2004] 2 All ER 266

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Hedley Byrne and Co Ltd v Heller and Partners Ltd HL 28-May-1963
Banker’s Liability for Negligent Reference
The appellants were advertising agents. They were liable themselves for advertising space taken for a client, and had sought a financial reference from the defendant bankers to the client. The reference was negligent, but the bankers denied any . .
Cited – Midland Bank Trust Co Ltd v Hett Stubbs and Kemp (a firm) ChD 1978
A solicitor had failed to register an option as a land charge over property. The court was asked what steps should have been taken by a solicitor in the conduct of a claim: ‘Mr Harman [leading counsel for the plaintiff] sought to rely upon the fact . .
Cited – Caparo Industries Plc v Dickman and others HL 8-Feb-1990
Limitation of Loss from Negligent Mis-statement
The plaintiffs sought damages from accountants for negligence. They had acquired shares in a target company and, relying upon the published and audited accounts which overstated the company’s earnings, they purchased further shares.
Held: The . .
Cited – Scally v Southern Health and Social Services Board HL 1991
The plaintiffs were junior doctors employed by the respondents. Their terms had been collectively negotiated, and incorporated the Regulations. During the period of their employment different regulations had given and then taken way their right to . .
Cited – Spring v Guardian Assurance Plc and Others HL 7-Jul-1994
The plaintiff, who worked in financial services, complained of the terms of the reference given by his former employer. Having spoken of his behaviour towards members of the team, it went on: ‘his former superior has further stated he is a man of . .
Cited – White and Another v Jones and Another HL 16-Feb-1995
Will Drafter liable in Negligence to Beneficiary
A solicitor drawing a will may be liable in negligence to a potential beneficiary, having unduly delayed in the drawing of the will. The Hedley Byrne principle was ‘founded upon an assumption of responsibility.’ Obligations may occasionally arise . .
Cited – Henderson v Merrett Syndicates Ltd HL 25-Jul-1994
Lloyds Agents Owe Care Duty to Member; no Contract
Managing agents conducted the financial affairs of the Lloyds Names belonging to the syndicates under their charge. It was alleged that they managed these affairs with a lack of due careleading to enormous losses.
Held: The assumption of . .
Cited – Bank of Credit and Commerce International (Overseas) Limited (In Liquidation); BCCI Holdings (Luxembourg) SA (In Liquidation); Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA (In Liquidation) v Price Waterhouse CA 13-Feb-1998
The special relationship between an auditor and a bank, meant that a duty of care could extend even to a second bank with its own auditors. In determining whether there had been an assumption of responsibility, the the relevant factors would include . .
Cited – Newall v Ministry of Defence 2002
. .
Cited – Outram v Academy Plastics Ltd CA 19-Apr-2000
An employer, who also operated as trustee of the company’s pension scheme, has no duty in negligence to give advice to scheme members as to how they should conduct their own membership of the scheme. No such obligation arises from the contractual . .
Cited – Gorham and others v British Telecommunications Limited Plc, the Trustees of the BT Pension Scheme Standard Life Assurance Company S/S CA 27-Jul-2000
Where an insurance company gave financial advice to a person to whom they owed a duty of care, and they were aware that that person was intending to provide for his dependants, then the insurance company owed the dependants a duty of care also. The . .

Cited by:

Cited – West Bromwich Albion Football Club Ltd v El-Safty QBD 14-Dec-2005
The claimant sought damages from the defendant surgeon alleging negligent care of a footballer. The defendant argued that he had no duty to the club as employer of his patient who was being treated through his BUPA membership. It would have created . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, Negligence, Police, Negligence

Updated: 09 June 2022; Ref: scu.193621

Regina (Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary) v Police Appeals Tribunal: QBD 2 Feb 2004

The constable was disciplined. The Police Appeals Tribunal ordered his re-instatement. The Chief constable complained that the tribunal had acted beyond its powers in not limiting itself to a review.
Held: The task of the tribunal was to review the misconduct decision, and they could intervene only if the tribunal decision was Wednesbury unreasonable. The constable had broken procedural guidelines in associations with informants. The tribunal operated under the section, and the guidance given by the Home Secretary was not binding on it. The rules specifically provided for the admission of oral evidence. It was an expert tribunal, which could consider all matters before it and make substitute sanctions.

Judges:

Collins J

Citations:

Times 11-Feb-2004, [2004] EWHC 220 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Act 1996 85(1), Police (Conduct) Regulations 1999 (1999 No 730)

Citing:

Cited – Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation CA 10-Nov-1947
Administrative Discretion to be Used Reasonably
The applicant challenged the manner of decision making as to the conditions which had been attached to its licence to open the cinema on Sundays. It had not been allowed to admit children under 15 years of age. The statute provided no appeal . .
Cited – Lothbury Investment Corporation Ltd v Inland Revenue Commissioners 1979
The taxpayer company was a non-trading company owing shareholders substantial sums. Rather than pay dividends it waived dividends it held in a public company, and the shareholder waived interest on the loans. The IR apportioned the income of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 09 June 2022; Ref: scu.193466

Harracksingh v The Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago and PC Neville Adams: PC 15 Jan 2004

(Trinidad and Tobago) The appellant had succeeded in a claim for damages against the police for false imprisonment and assault. He now appealed a reversal of that decision. The judge had been doubtful as to the value of the police evidence. The Court of Appeal had apparently re-assessed that evidence.
Held: The trial judge had made explicit findings of fact which the appellate court had no standing to alter. The judgment was re-instated. ‘the conduct of the police officers was not merely ‘overzealous’, as Mr Dingemans submitted: it was tortious. Although even upon that assumption he did not formally concede liability for malicious prosecution, it is irresistible. Not only was the prosecution doomed, but charging a person with an offence, which the arresting officer knows he has not committed, necessarily involves a lack of honest belief on the part of the officer, and his motive can only have been improper. ‘

Judges:

Lord Hoffmann Lord Hope of Craighead Lord Scott of Foscote Sir Andrew Leggatt Sir Kenneth Keith

Citations:

[2004] UKPC 3

Links:

Bailii, PC, PC, PC

Citing:

Cited – Watt (or Thomas) v Thomas HL 1947
When Scots Appellate Court may set decision aside
The House considered when it was appropriate for an appellate court in Scotland to set aside the judgment at first instance.
Lord Thankerton said: ‘(1) Where a question of fact has been tried by a judge without a jury, and there is no question . .
Cited – SS Hontestroom v SS Sagaporack HL 1927
The court discussed the weight to be given by an appellate court to findings of fact made by the court of first instance.
Held: Not to have seen the witnesses puts appellate judges in a permanent position of disadvantage as against the trial . .
Cited – Scammel and Nephew Ltd v Hurley CA 1929
The court considered when a public authority may lose any statutory protection for its acts.
Scrutton LJ said: ‘if illegal acts are really done from some motive other than an honest desire to execute the statutory or other legal duty and an . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Commonwealth, Litigation Practice, Police, Torts – Other

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.192155

Chief Constable of the North Wales Police v Evans: HL 1982

The Court found the probationer police constable to have been unlawfully induced to resign, but the court could not order his reinstatement. A power must be exercised by the precise person or body stated in the statute. Though courts may review the way in which decisions are reached, they will respect the margin of appreciation or discretion which a Chief Constable has. He knows through his officers the local situation, the availability of officers and his financial resources, and the other demands on the police in the area at different times. The House granted instead a declaration: ‘affirming that, by reason of his unlawfully induced resignation, he had thereby become entitled to the same rights and remedies, not including reinstatement, as he would have had if the chief constable had not unlawfully dispensed with his services under regulation 16(1).’
‘My Lords I must address myself later to the question of remedy. All that I would say at this moment is that it would, to my mind, be regrettable if a litigant who establishes that he has been legally wronged, and particularly in so important a matter as a pursuit of his chosen profession, has to be sent away from a court of justice empty handed save for an order for the recoupment of the expense to which he has been put in establishing a barren victory.’ and ‘An unsuccessful applicant whose challenge has nevertheless performed a public service may escape the usual costs burden.’
Lord Brightman: ‘Judicial review is concerned, not with the decision, but with the decision-making process. Unless that restriction on the power of the court is observed, the court will in my view, under the guise of preventing the abuse of power, be itself guilty of usurping power…. Judicial review, as the words imply, is not an appeal from a decision, but a review of the manner in which the decision was made.’

Judges:

Lord Brightman

Citations:

[1982] 1 WLR 1155, [1982] UKHL 10, (1982) 3 All ER 141

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Chief Constable of North Wales Police v Evans 2-Jan-1982
. .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Chief Constable of Sussex, ex Parte International Trader’s Ferry Limited HL 2-Apr-1998
Chief Constable has a Wide Discretion on Resources
Protesters sought to prevent the appellant’s lawful trade exporting live animals. The police provided assistance, but then restricted it, pleading lack of resources. The appellants complained that this infringed their freedom of exports under . .
Cited – Regina v Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority ex parte DB Admn 17-Oct-1996
Sperm which had been taken from a dying and unconscious man may not be used for the later insemination of his surviving wife. The Act required his written consent.
Held: Community Law does not assist the Applicant. The question had been . .
See Also – Chief Constable of North Wales Police v Evans 2-Jan-1982
. .
Cited – Tataw, Regina (on the Application Of) v Immigration Appeal Tribunal CA 18-Jun-2003
. .
Cited – Jhagroo v Teaching Service Commission PC 4-Dec-2002
PC (Trinidad and Tobago) . .
Cited – Kay, Regina (on The Application of) v Chief Constable of Northumbria Police Admn 18-Jan-2010
Having succeeded in her claim as to the lawfulness of the decision of the defendant to end her appointment as a probationary constable, the claimant now sought an order mandating her continued employment by the defendant. She had been acquitted of . .
Cited – Shoesmith, Regina (on The Application of) v OFSTED and Others CA 27-May-2011
The claimant appealed against dismissal of her claim. She had been head of Child Services at Haringey. After the notorious violent death of Baby P, the Secretary of State called for an inquiry under the Act. He then removed her as director. She . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Administrative, Costs

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.192007

Regina (Hewitson) v Chief Constable of Dorset Police and another: QBD 18 Dec 2003

The claimant had been arrested under an extradition warrant. He complained that the police took the opportunity to search his girflriend’s nearby flat. The police responded that the search was conducted under a common law power of search attached to the warrant for his arrest.
Held: The search was unlawful, since the connection between the claimant and the flat was tenuous. A request by the police to extend th ecommonlaw pronciples was not allowed.

Citations:

Times 06-Jan-2004, [2003] EWHC 3296 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Extradition Act 1989 8(1)(b)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Applied – Regina v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis, ex parte Rottman HL 16-May-2002
The defendant had been arrested under an extradition warrant issued under the Act. The police had searched his premises, and found further evidence which was used to support the application for extradition. He challenged the collection and admission . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.190237

Alexandrou v Oxford (Chief Constable of the Merseyside Police): CA 16 Feb 1990

A shop was burgled. The shop-owner blamed the police for their negligent investigation.
Held: The police were not liable in negligence.

Judges:

Glidewell LJ, Slade LJ

Citations:

[1993] 4 All ER 328, [1990] EWCA Civ 19, (1991) 3 Admin LR 675

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Brooks v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and others HL 21-Apr-2005
The claimant was with Stephen Lawrence when they were both attacked and Mr Lawrence killed. He claimed damages for the negligent way the police had dealt with his case, and particularly said that they had failed to assess him as a victim of crime, . .
Cited – Welton, Welton v North Cornwall District Council CA 17-Jul-1996
The defendant authority appealed a finding that it was liable in negligence from the conduct of one of its environmental health officers. The plaintiff had set out to refurbish and open a restaurant. He said the officer gave him a list of things he . .
Cited – Hertfordshire Police v Van Colle; Smith v Chief Constable of Sussex Police HL 30-Jul-2008
Police Obligations to Witnesses is Limited
A prosecution witness was murdered by the accused shortly before his trial. The parents of the deceased alleged that the failure of the police to protect their son was a breach of article 2.
Held: The House was asked ‘If the police are alerted . .
To be confined to its facts – Kent v Griffiths and others CA 3-Feb-2000
A doctor attended the home of a patient suffering from an asthma attack and called for an ambulance to take her immediately to hospital. The control replied ‘Okay doctor.’ After 13 minutes the ambulance had not arrived and the patient’s husband made . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Negligence

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.190037

Attorney-General for New South Wales v Perpetual Trustee Co Ltd: PC 14 Mar 1955

(Australia) The Crown could not recover damages for the loss of the services of a police constable as the result of injuries caused by the negligence of a third person. A chief constable was an office held under the Crown, and the usual relationship of master and servant did not apply.
Viscount Simonds said: ”And he is to be regarded as a servant or minister of the King because, as Lord Blackburn said in Coomber v Berks JJ (9 App Cas at p67), the administration of justice, both criminal and civil, and the preservation of order and prevention of crime by means of what is now called police, are amongst the most important functions of government and, by the constitution of this country, these functions do, of common right, belong to the Crown. A constable, then, may be said in a certain context, and sometimes with the appendage ‘or minister’, to be a ‘servant of the Crown”

Judges:

Viscount Simonds

Citations:

[1955] AC 457, [1955] UKPC 6, [1955] 1 All ER 846, [1955] 2 WLR 707

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Australia

Cited by:

Cited – Coulter v Chief Constable of Dorset Police ChD 12-Dec-2003
The claimant had failed in an action for damages against the respondent, and had failed to pay the costs award. The respondent issued a statutory demand. He claimed that it was invalid because the chief constable had changed in the interim, and . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex Parte Northumbria Police Authority CA 18-Nov-1987
The Authority appealed from refusal of judicial review of a circular issued by the respondent as to the supply of Plastic Baton Rounds and CS gas from central resources only. The authority suggested that the circular amounted to permission for the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Commonwealth, Employment, Police

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.189947

Miller Gardner Solicitors, Regina (on the Application of) v Minshull Street Crown Court: Admn 20 Dec 2002

Police investigating crime obtained a warrant to search a solicitor’s offices for details of their clients. The solicitors appealed.
Held: The details required, namely dates of contacts with a certain telephone number were not legally privileged: ‘the name and telephone number of the caller were taken down as a formality ‘to create the channel through which advice may later flow’. The judge’s discretion had been properly exercised.
Fulford J (as he then was) in the Divisional Court in R (Miller Gardner) v Minshull Street Crown Court at [19] and he thereafter continued: ‘As Lord Bingham stated during the course of his judgment, it is necessary to consider the function and nature of the documents. As a result although documents may be located at a solicitor’s office, they do not attract legal professional privilege for that reason alone.
That decision provides strong support for the proposition that the provision of an individual’s name, address and contact number cannot, without more, be regarded as being made in connection with legal advice. It records nothing which passes between the solicitor and client in relation to the obtaining of or giving of legal advice. Taking down the name and telephone number is a formality that occurs before the legal advice is sought or given. As my Lord observed during argument, providing these details does no more than create the channel through which advice may later flow: see in this regard the case of Studdy v Sanders and others (1823) 2 D and R 347.
It follows, in my judgment, that the identity of the person contacting the solicitor is not information subject to legal professional privilege and the telephone numbers of the brothers, equally, are not covered by this protection; neither are the dates when one or either of those men phoned the office. Moreover, the record of appointments in the office diary and attendance notes, in so far as they merely record who was speaking to the solicitor and the number they were calling from, fall within the same category. Other details contained within the attendance notes may well be covered by legal professional privilege depending on what, if anything, was discussed.’

Judges:

Fulford J, Rose LJ VP CACD

Citations:

[2002] EWHC 3077 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Sch1, European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 6 8

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Central Criminal Court ex parte Francis and Francis HL 1989
The police had obtained an ex parte order for the production of files from a firm of solicitors relating to financial transactions of one of their clients. The police believed that the client had been provided with money to purchase property by an . .
Cited – Regina v Manchester Crown Court ex parte Rogers (Legal Professional Privilege) Admn 2-Feb-1999
The police had sought disclosure from the applicant’s solicitors of records of the time at which the applicant arrived at the solicitors’ premises on a particular date and like documents.
Held: Such records are not privileged because they did . .
Cited – Regina v Cox and Railton 1884
(Court for Crown Cases Reserved) The defendants were charged with conspiracy to defraud a judgment creditor of the fruits of a judgment by dishonestly backdating a dissolution of their partnership to a date prior to a bill of sale given by Railton . .
Cited – Regina v Crown Court ex parte Baines and Baines 1988
The court considered special procedure material arising out of the Brinks-Mat robbery.
Held: The records of the financing of a transaction for the purchase of a property were not to be subject to legal professional privilege under section 10 . .
Cited – Studdy v Sanders and others 1823
Legal professional privilege. . .
Cited – Regina v Leeds Crown Court ex parte Switalski 1991
It is preferable, in an ordinary case, for an application for a search warrant in a solicitor’s office to be made on notice. However, if a solicitor under investigation were to have knowledge of what was contemplated the material sought might . .
Cited – Regina v Maidstone Crown Court ex parte Waitt QBD 1988
The solicitor applicant challenged the grant of a search order under section 9.
Held: The order was quashed. The court underlined the need for judges to be scrupulous in discharging their responsibilities so as to ensure that use of the . .

Cited by:

Cited – SRJ v Person(s) Unknown (Author and Commenters of Internet Blogs) QBD 10-Jul-2014
The claimant sought an order for the disclosure by his solicitor of the identity of the author of an internet blog publishing critical material which, the claimant said, was its confidential information. The defendant’s solicitor had failed to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Legal Professions, Police

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.189108

Cumming and others v Chief Constable of Northumbria Police: CA 17 Dec 2003

The six claimants sought damages for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment. Each had been arrested on an officer’s suspicion. They operated CCTV equipment, and it appeared that tapes showing the commission of an offence had been tampered with. Each was of good character, and the suspicion was based solely on their opportunity to have access to the tape.
Held: The arrests were justified even though logically no more than two of the group could have committed the alleged offence. A mere opportunity to commit an offence could in the right circumstances constitute sufficient grounds for suspicion of guilt to support an arrest. The officers had done what they could to minimise the number of people under suspicion, and ‘there is nothing in principle which prevents opportunity from amounting to reasonable grounds for suspicion. Indeed in some circumstances opportunity may be sufficient to found a conviction. That would be the case where the prosecution can prove that no one else had the opportunity to commit the offence. The question in the present case is whether opportunity is sufficient to be reasonable grounds for suspecting six people when the likelihood is that it was only one or perhaps two of those six who were responsible. Again there can be nothing in principle wrong with arresting more than one person even if the crime can only have been committed by one person.’ Appeal dismissed.

Judges:

The President Of The Family Division

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 1844, Times 02-Jan-2004, Gazette 29-Jan-2004

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 24(6)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Castorina v Chief Constable of Surrey CA 10-Jun-1988
Whether an officer had reasonable cause to arrest somebody without a warrant depended upon an objective assessment of the information available to him, and not upon his subjective beliefs. The court had three questions to ask (per Woolf LJ): ‘(a) . .
Cited – Fox, Campbell and Hartley v The United Kingdom ECHR 30-Aug-1990
The court considered the required basis for a reasonable suspicion to found an arrest without a warrant: ‘The ‘reasonableness’ of the suspicion on which an arrest must be based forms an essential part of the safeguard against arbitrary arrest and . .
Mentioned – O’Hara v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary HL 21-Nov-1996
Second Hand Knowledge Supports Resaobnable Belief
The plaintiff had been arrested on the basis of the 1984 Act. The officer had no particular knowledge of the plaintiff’s involvement, relying on a briefing which led to the arrest.
Held: A reasonable suspicion upon which an arrest was founded . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Bugdaycay HL 19-Feb-1986
Three applicants had lied on entry to secure admission, stayed for a considerable time, and had been treated as illegal immigrants under section 33(1). The fourth’s claim that upon being returned he would been killed, had been rejected without . .
Cited – Regina v Ministry of Defence Ex Parte Smith and Others QBD 7-Jun-1995
An MOD ban on employing homosexuals was not Wednesbury unreasonable, even though it might be out of date. Pannick (counsel for the applicant, approved): ‘The court may not interfere with the exercise of an administrative discretion on substantive . .
Cited – Holgate-Mohammed v Duke HL 1984
A police officer had purported to arrest the plaintiff under the 1967 Act, suspecting her of theft. After interview she was released several hours later without charge. She sought damages alleging wrongful arrest. The judge had found that he had . .

Cited by:

Cited – Al-Fayed and others v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and others CA 25-Nov-2004
The appellants appealed from dismissal of their claims for wrongful imprisonment by the respondent. Each had attended at a police station for interview on allegations of theft. They had been arrested and held pending interview and then released. Mr . .
Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the application of ) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire HL 13-Dec-2006
The claimants had been in coaches being driven to take part in a demonstration at an air base. The defendant police officers stopped the coaches en route, and, without allowing any number of the claimants to get off, returned the coaches to London. . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Raissi CA 12-Nov-2008
The Commissioner appealed against an award of damages for false imprisonment. The claimant had been arrested shortly after a terrorist attack. The judge had held that they had no reasonable belief of his involvement. The Commissioner did not now . .
Cited – Armstrong v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police CA 5-Dec-2008
The Chief Constable appealed against a finding that the claimant had been arrested for rape without reasonable grounds. A description of the rapist had been given which the claimant met in several respects, but from which he clearly differed in . .
Cited – Richardson v The Chief Constable of West Midlands Police QBD 29-Mar-2011
The claimant, a teacher, said he had been unlawfully arrested and detained after an allegation of assault from a pupil. Having attended the police station voluntarily, he said that the circumstances did not satisfy the required precondition that an . .
Cited – Howarth v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis QBD 3-Nov-2011
The claimant sought judicial review of a decision to search him whilst travelling to a public protest in London. A previous demonstration involving this group had resulted in criminal damage, but neither the claimant nor his companions were found to . .
Cited – Fitzpatrick and Others v The Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis QBD 11-Jan-2012
The claimants, two solicitors and their employer firm sought damages alleging trespass and malicious procurement by police officers in obtaining and executing search warrants against the firm in 2007 when they were investigating suspected offences . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Police

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.188909

Gillan and Another, Regina (on the Application of) v Commissioner of the Police for the Metropolis and Another: Admn 31 Oct 2003

The applicants challenged by way of judicial review the way they had been stopped and searched under the Act. They attended a demonstration. The search revealed nothing suspicious. General authorisations for such searches had been issued under the Act.
Held: The section should not be read so as to restrict the power to issue authorisations for searches only when there was some imminent threat. Lord Justice Brooke said: ‘the powers are so sweeping and far beyond anything ever permitted by common law powers – the police can stop and search anybody at any time anywhere without any prior grounds of suspicion within a huge metropolitan district – it behoves the police to take particular care to ensure that these powers are not used arbitrarily or against any particular group of people’ and
‘There is just enough evidence available to persuade us that in the absence of any evidence that these powers were being habitually used on occasions which might represent symbolic targets, the arms fair was an occasion which concerned the police sufficiently to persuade them that the use of section 44 powers was needed ‘ The claim failed.
‘It seems to us that a lot of the trouble in this case has arisen because what should be a very quick random stop/search procedure has been elevated into a slow bureaucratic process that would be far more appropriate for a stop/search where there is reasonable cause for police suspicion. No wonder people got annoyed. ‘

Judges:

Lord Justice Brooke And Mr Justice Maurice Kay

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 2545 (Admin), Times 05-Nov-2003, [2003] All ER (D) 526

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Terrorism Act 2000 44, European Convention on Human Rights 5 8 10

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Padfield v Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food HL 14-Feb-1968
Exercise of Ministerial Discretion
The Minister had power to direct an investigation in respect of any complaint as to the operation of any marketing scheme for agricultural produce. Milk producers complained about the price paid by the milk marketing board for their milk when . .
Cited – Secretary of State for the Home Department v Rehman HL 11-Oct-2001
The applicant, a Pakistani national had entered the UK to act as a Muslim priest. The Home Secretary was satisfied that he was associated with a Muslim terrorist organisation, and refused indefinite leave to remain. The Home Secretary provided both . .
Cited – Regina v British Broadcasting Corporation ex parte Pro-life Alliance HL 15-May-2003
The Alliance was a political party seeking to air its party election broadcast. The appellant broadcasters declined to broadcast the film on the grounds that it was offensive, being a graphical discussion of the processes of abortion.
Held: . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Gillan and Quinton, Regina (on the Application of) v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and Another CA 29-Jul-2004
The appellants had challenged the lawfulness of being stopped and searched by police. The officers relied on an authorisation made under the 2000 Act. They had been on their way to attending an arms fair, intending to demonstrate.
Held: The . .
At first instance – Gillan, Regina (on the Application of) v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and Another HL 8-Mar-2006
The defendants said that the stop and search powers granted under the 2000 Act were too wide, and infringed their human rights. Each had been stopped when innocently attending demonstrations in London, and had been effectively detained for about . .
At First Instance – Gillan and Quinton v The United Kingdom ECHR 10-Jun-2008
The court set the questions to be answered later in response to the complaint as to the use of stop and search powers by the British police. . .
At First Instance – Gillan and Quinton v The United Kingdom ECHR 12-Jan-2010
The claimants had been stopped by the police using powers in the 2000 Act. They were going to a demonstration outside an arms convention. There was no reason given for any suspicion that the searches were needed.
Held: The powers given to the . .
At First Instance – Gillan and Quinton v The United Kingdom ECHR 12-May-2009
(Admissibility and Summary) . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Human Rights

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.187314

Aru, Regina (on the Application of) v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police: Admn 23 May 2003

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 1310 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Regina (Aru) v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police CA 30-Jan-2004
The applicant had been cautioned by the police. The victim sought judicial review of that decision. The respondent now appealed.
Held: The court of appeal had no jurisdiction to hear an appeal against a judicial review in a criminal matter . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Criminal Practice

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.185323

Ward v The Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust: CA 30 Jul 2003

The claimant sought damages for the circumstances of her having been taken into custody. A magistrate had issued a warrant to require her to be removed to a place of safety. The warrant named a social worker and doctor to accompany the officer. The warrant was executed but the social worker and doctor were not those named.
Held: Magistrates could issue a warrant without naming the social worker or doctor who would be required under the section to accompany the police officer. If so, such workers could be selected as appropriate. The addition of the names to the warrant was to be read as a restriction on the way the warrant was to be executed, and the officer could not assume that the warrant would have been issued without names or with alternative names. The warrant itself was valid, but the mode of execution was not.

Judges:

Lord Justice Schiemann Lord Justice Latham

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 1152, Times 02-Sep-2003, Gazette 02-Oct-2003

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Mental Health Act 1983 135(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appealed to – Ward v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and others HL 5-May-2005
The claimant had been taken under warrant to a mental hospital, but was found not to be suffering any mental illness. She complained that the arrest was unlawful, since the police officer had not been accompanied by the people named on the warrant. . .

Cited by:

Appeal From – Ward v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and others HL 5-May-2005
The claimant had been taken under warrant to a mental hospital, but was found not to be suffering any mental illness. She complained that the arrest was unlawful, since the police officer had not been accompanied by the people named on the warrant. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health, Magistrates, Police

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.185243

E, Re Application for Judicial Review: QBNI 9 Jun 2003

Application by the mother of one of the children affected by what has become known as ‘the Holy Cross dispute’. The applicant seeks judicial review in the form of a declaration that the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland failed to secure the effective implementation of the criminal law and to ensure safe passage for her and her daughter to the Holy Cross primary school for girls on Ardoyne Road, Belfast.

Citations:

[2003] NIQB 39

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Northern Ireland

Police

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.184124

Cumming and others v Chief Constable of Northumbria Police: CA 9 Jun 2003

Application for permission to appeal from dismissal of claims for wrongful arrest.
Held: Granted

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 856

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Al-Fayed and others v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and others CA 25-Nov-2004
The appellants appealed from dismissal of their claims for wrongful imprisonment by the respondent. Each had attended at a police station for interview on allegations of theft. They had been arrested and held pending interview and then released. Mr . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Police

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.184067

Jones v Her Majesty’s Attorney-General sued on behalf of New Zealand Police: PC 19 Jun 2003

PC (New Zealand) The claimant was stopped driving his son to the airport. He drove off, but was stopped again. He complained at the constable’s conduct. His claim was struck out. He had been stopped under road traffic legislation, but this was not available for non-traffic purposes.
Held: There were disputes as to the exact circumstances in which the constable had stopped the car, but a plaintiff’s claim should not be dismissed without trial save under the clearest of circumstances indicating that the claim would fail. That had not been shown here. Appeal allowed.

Judges:

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Hutton, Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry

Citations:

[2003] UKPC 48

Links:

Bailii, PC

Commonwealth, Police, Litigation Practice

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.183888

Williamson v Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police: CA 21 Feb 2003

The claimant had been arrested by an officer entering his house to investigate a breach of the peace, then held for two nights. The police believed that he posed no continuing threat, but believed he had to be brought before the magistrates before being released.
Held: The fact that a breach of the peace had been deemed a criminal offence for human rights purposes, did not mean that it would be a criminal offence capable of supporting entry into a property by a police officer to investigate a crime. Section 17 clearly included the intention that a breach of the peace would remain not criminal (see also 25(6)). The claimant should have been released immediately he calmed down.

Judges:

Mummery, Dyson LJJ

Citations:

Times 11-Mar-2003, [2003] EWCA Civ 337, Gazette 01-May-2003, [2004] 1 WLR 14

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 17

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Steel and Others v The United Kingdom ECHR 23-Sep-1998
The several applicants had been arrested in different circumstances and each charged with breach of the peace contrary to common law. Under the Magistrates’ Court Act 1980, the court can bind over a Defendant to keep the peace, if the Defendant . .
Cited – Albert v Lavin HL 3-Dec-1981
An off duty and out of uniform police officer attempted to restrain the defendant jumping ahead of a bus queue. The defendant struggled, and continued to do so even after being told that of the officer’s status. He said he had not believed that he . .

Cited by:

Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the Application of) v Gloucestershire Constabulary and others Admn 19-Feb-2004
The court considered a claim for judicial review of a police officer’s decision to turn back a number of coaches. Each coach contained passengers en route to join a demonstration at an RAF base in Gloucestershire, the officer honestly and reasonably . .
Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the application of ) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire HL 13-Dec-2006
The claimants had been in coaches being driven to take part in a demonstration at an air base. The defendant police officers stopped the coaches en route, and, without allowing any number of the claimants to get off, returned the coaches to London. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime, Police

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.181140

Jarrett v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police: CA 14 Feb 2003

The claimant sought damages for false imprisonment and assault after her wrongful arrest. She had waived her handbag at an officer investigating a disturbance and been arrested. The police said the arrest was lawful, she being suspected of common assault.
Held: The judge was entitled to take the view that, taking the evidence at its highest, there were no proper grounds established for arrest in relation to a breach of the peace or apprehended breach of the peace. However, the suspicion in the offer’s mind of an offence of assault remained and the arrest was lawful: ‘ … agitation or excitement, including hysterical waving of a handbag … in front of a police officer interviewing a member of the public in the street did not constitute a breach of the peace to justify a lawful arrest.’

Judges:

Lord Justice Potter, Lord Justice Chadwick, Mrs Justice Black

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 397, Gazette 10-Apr-2003, Times 28-Feb-2003

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 25

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Howell (Errol) CACD 1981
The court considered the meaning of the legal concept of a breach of the peace.
Held: The essence is to be found in violence or threatened violence. ‘We entertain no doubt that a constable has a power of arrest where there is reasonable . .
Cited – O’Hara v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary HL 21-Nov-1996
Second Hand Knowledge Supports Resaobnable Belief
The plaintiff had been arrested on the basis of the 1984 Act. The officer had no particular knowledge of the plaintiff’s involvement, relying on a briefing which led to the arrest.
Held: A reasonable suspicion upon which an arrest was founded . .
Cited – Parker v Chief Constable of the Hampshire Constabulary CA 25-Jun-1999
The claimant sought damages after his arrest by armed police. The defendant appealed a substantial award of damages.
Held: The section required the officer to have reasonable grounds for suspecting the arrestees to be guilty of the offence. . .
Cited – Regina v Burstow, Regina v Ireland HL 24-Jul-1997
The defendant was accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm when he had made silent phone calls which were taken as threatening.
Held: An assault might consist of the making of a silent telephone call in circumstances where it causes . .
Cited – Hussein v Choung Fook Kam HL 1970
When making an arrest, the standard of proof required of the officer is suspicion and no more. It falls well short of prima facie proof. Suspicion should not be elided with guilt, or even prima facie proof of guilt. It ‘is a state of conjecture or . .
Cited – Castorina v Chief Constable of Surrey CA 10-Jun-1988
Whether an officer had reasonable cause to arrest somebody without a warrant depended upon an objective assessment of the information available to him, and not upon his subjective beliefs. The court had three questions to ask (per Woolf LJ): ‘(a) . .

Cited by:

Cited – Wragg, Regina (on the Application Of) v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 15-Jun-2005
The court faced a case stated where the defendant had been accused of resisting arrest. The officers claimed to have anticipated a breach of the peace, having been called to a domestic dispute.
Held: Though the defendant had not behaved with . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Torts – Other

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.181127

Marsh v Clare (Chief Constable of Lancashire Constabulary): CA 6 Mar 2003

The claimant’s had been assaulted by his business partner, who after arrest charge and release, returned and chased him. The claimant became a police informant and paid andpound;10,000 to the constable to join a scheme allowing him trade in stolen cars and receive protection. He was subsequently arrested police for dealing in stolen cars and the officer was charged with corruption anticipating the claimant would provide evidence. The claimant said the chief constable was vicariously liable for the false arrest, negligence and misfeasance in public office. The claimant appealed the striking out of his claim.
Held: Appeal dismissed. The police owed no private law duty to investigate crime. Retaining someone as an informant did not, ipso facto, create any personal duty of care when the relationship was unlawfully founded. The claimant failed to disclose any deliberate wrongdoing or malice by the police force and any bad faith in the corrupt detective constable did not constitute misfeasance in public office.

Judges:

Lord Justice Chadwick Lord Justice Mummery Lord Justice Potter

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 284, Gazette 09-May-2003

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police, Torts – Other

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.179548

Clinch v Dorset Police Authority: Admn 11 Feb 2003

The claimant appealed refusal of his application for a police pension following an injury suffered, he claimed had occurred on police duty. He claimed to have suffered depression since he failed to be promoted. He said that they had wrongfully refused to refer his application for medical assessment.
Held: The statute was not to be interpreted in such a way as to give rise to an absurdity. It could not be for the medical referree to decide whether the injury arose in the course of duty.

Judges:

The Honourable Mr Justice McCombe

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 161 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Pensions Regulations 1987 H5, Police Pensions Act 1976 1

Cited by:

Cited – Merseyside Police Authority v Police Medical Appeal Board and others Admn 23-Jan-2009
Two police officers had been granted additional retirement annuities on the basis that they had been injured in the execution of their duty. The chief constable denied this. A police officer who was on annual leave was injured whilst exercising the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.179101

In re Shields: HL 6 Feb 2003

(Northern Ireland) The chief constable appealed against a decision that the directions he had given, that officers with poor attendance records for sickness should not be considered for promotion.
Held: The Chief Constable had, following the Act, found a serious management problem. The directions were designed to encourage good attendance, and were within his powers, and valid. The scheme of the Act was that the Secretary of State would make Regulations which would be supplemented by such directions.

Judges:

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Browne-Wilkinson, Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Hutton

Citations:

Times 07-Feb-2003, [2003] UKHL 3

Links:

House of Lords, Bailii

Statutes:

Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 22 25

Citing:

Cited – Padfield v Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food HL 14-Feb-1968
Exercise of Ministerial Discretion
The Minister had power to direct an investigation in respect of any complaint as to the operation of any marketing scheme for agricultural produce. Milk producers complained about the price paid by the milk marketing board for their milk when . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Northern Ireland, Police

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.178986

Regina (on the Application of Redgrave) v The Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis: CA 22 Jan 2003

The police officer had been accused of an offence. The case was discharged under the section at committal. The Commissioner sought to commence disciplinary proceedings on the same evidence.
Held: The tests of the two sets of hearings were different. The magistrates had been asked to see whether there was sufficient evidence to justify putting him on a criminal trial. The case had been dismissed by the magistrates, but that was not a finding of innocence under s104, and no double jeopardy arose. The double jeopardy rule has no application save to other courts of competent jurisdiction.

Judges:

Mr Justice Scott Baker, Lord Justice Mummery, Lord Justice Simon Brown

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 4

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

The Police (Discipline) Regulations 1985 7, Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 6, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 104

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina (on the application of Whitehead and Daglish) v Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Admn 2001
Criminal charges against the officers had been stayed. They subsequently faced disciplinary proceedings.
Held: An acquittal is a finding or determination that a defendant is not guilty of an offence. A stay does not involve such a finding. . .
Cited – Connelly v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 1964
Plea of Autrefois Acquit is Narrow in Scope
The defendant had been tried for and acquitted of murder. The prosecution then sought to have him tried for robbery out of the same alleged facts. The House considered his plea of autrefois convict.
Held: The majority identified a narrow . .
Cited – Regina v Police Complaints Board ex parte Madden and Rhone 1983
Double jeopardy, properly understood, is best described in the phrase ‘No man should be tried twice for the same offence’. The court emphasised the word ‘tried’. . .
Cited – Regina v Manchester City Stipendiary Magistrate, ex parte S Nelson CACD 1977
Challenge was made to the institution of fresh committal proceedings following the applicant’s discharge at an earlier committal hearing when, the prosecution’s application for an adjournment having been refused, no evidence was offered against him. . .
Cited – Brooks v Director of Public Prosecutions and Another PC 2-Mar-1994
(Jamaica) The DPP successfully applied for a voluntary bill after the resident magistrate had discharged the defendant on the ground that having heard the evidence, there was no case to answer. The challenge to the DPP’s decision to seek a voluntary . .
Cited – Ziderman v General Dental Council PC 1976
Lord Diplock said: ‘The purpose of disciplinary proceedings against a dentist who has been convicted of a criminal offence by a court of law is not to punish him a second time for the same offence but to protect the public who may come to him as . .
Cited – Regina v Statutory Committee of Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain 1981
The court asked if the Latin maxim ‘nemo debit bis vexari, si constat curiae quod sit pro una et eadem causa’, or ‘nemo debet bis punire pro uno delicto’ (no one ought to be twice punished for the same offence) were relevant where criminal charges . .
Cited – Saeed v Greater London Council (Inner London Education Authority) 1985
The plaintiff had been acquitted of assaulting a child at the school. His employers nevertheless brought disciplinary proceedings alleging misconduct identical to those which had formed the basis of the previous criminal proceedings. The plaintiff . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Employment

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.178804

Regina (Tucker) v Director General of the National Crime Squad: CA 17 Jan 2003

The applicant was a senior officer seconded to the National Crime Squad. He complained that his secondment had been terminated in a manner which was unfair, and left him tainted without opportunity to reply. He appealed against rejection of his request for judicial review.
Held: The appeal failed. Operational matters within the police service, save disciplinary matters were exempt from judicial review. The squad was a creation of statute, and it is a public body, but that was not enough to make what was a managerial decision, of sufficient public law concern to allow a judicial review. He had not been disciplined, and the appointment was one which would come to an end anyway. ‘The Deputy Director General in sending the Appellant back to his force was not performing a public duty owed to him. The decision taken in relation to the Appellant was specific to him. Other officers were dealt with differently. Some were arrested; some were sent back to be disciplined; one was retained with different duties. But the Appellant was simply sent back. It was a decision tailor-made to him. It was taken because of perceived deficiencies in his skills and conduct as an NCS officer. It was an operational decision taken because it was decided that he fell short of the particular requirements that were necessary to work in the NCS. It had nothing to do with his private life and I reject Mr Westgate’s contention that Article 8 of the ECHR was engaged. ‘

Judges:

Aldous, Scott Baker LJJ, Sir Philip Otton

Citations:

Times 27-Jan-2003, Gazette 13-Mar-2003, [2003] EWCA Civ 57, [2003] ICR 599, [2003] IRLR 439, [2003] Po LR 9, [2003] ACD 37

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Act 1997 48 55

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Tucker, Regina (On the Application of) v National Crime Squad Admn 12-Apr-2002
The claimant sought judicial review of a decision to terminate his secondment to the National Crime Squad. It was said that there had been concerns about his management skills after in investigation into drug related offences by co-officers. The . .
Cited – Regina v British Broadcasting Corporation ex parte Lavelle 1983
Prerogative remedies are only available to impugn a decision of a tribunal which is performing a public duty. Judicial review is not applicable in a strict master and servant relationship based on private contract of employment as there is no . .
Cited – Regina v Derbyshire County Council ex parte Noble 1990
Woolf LJ said: ‘Unfortunately in my view there is no universal test which will be applicable to all circumstances which will indicate clearly and beyond peradventure as to when judicial review is or is not available. It is a situation where the . .
Cited – Malloch v Aberdeen Corporation HL 1971
A common law action for wrongful dismissal can at most yield compensation measured by reference to the salary that should have been paid during the contractual period of notice. Lord Reid said: ‘At common law a master is not bound to hear his . .
Cited – Regina v East Berkshire Health Authority, ex Parte Walsh CA 14-May-1984
A district nursing officer had been dismissed for misconduct. He applied for judicial review. He sought judicial review to quash the decision on the ground that there had been a breach of natural justice and that the district nursing officer had no . .
Cited – Regina v Take-over Panel, ex parte Datafin PLC CA 1986
Amenability to judicial review
The issue of amenability to judicial review often requires an examination of the nature of the power under challenge as well as its source: ‘In all the reports it is possible to find enumerations of factors giving rise to the jurisdiction [of . .
Cited – Leech v Governor of Parkhurst Prison HL 1988
The House was asked whether a disciplinary decision by a governor was amenable to judicial review.
Held: The functions of a governor adjudicating upon disciplinary charges are separate and distinct from his functions in running the prison; . .
Cited – Hopley, Regina (on the Application of) v Liverpool Health Authority and others Admn 30-Jul-2002
The respondent Health Authority had refused to consent to payment to the claimant of damages for personal injury by periodical payments under a with profits structured settlement made under Section 2 of the 1996 Act.
Held: The decision was not . .
Cited – Regina v Crown Prosecution Service Ex Parte Hogg CA 14-Apr-1994
A Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor’s dismissal was not reviewable, his contract was not underpinned by statute. However, even in employment cases the possibility of judicial review cannot always be ruled out. . .
Cited – Regina v Home Secretary, ex parte Hosenball CA 1977
A United States’ citizen was subject to a deportation decision which was held not amenable to judicial review on the ground of national security. He appealed.
Held: Neither a failure to lay rules before Parliament within the allotted time, nor . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Doody and Others HL 25-Jun-1993
A mandatory lifer is to be permitted to suggest the period of actual sentence to be served. The Home Secretary must give reasons for refusing a lifer’s release. What fairness requires in any particular case is ‘essentially an intuitive judgment’, . .
Cited – O’Leary v The Chief Constable Of The Merseyside Police Admn 9-Feb-2001
The claimant was an inspector in the South Wales Constabulary. He held ‘white ticket’ status which meant that he was in a pool awaiting promotion to chief inspector and that in the ordinary course of events he would be promoted to chief inspector . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Judicial Review

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.178705

Hendricks v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis: CA 27 Nov 2002

The appellant appealed a finding of the Employment Appeal Tribunal against her. She had complained of sex and race discrimination. She alleged that the Tribunal had concentrated on the issues of policy within the respondent police force.
Held: The true issues were how in fact the complainant had been treated, and the Tribunal had concentrated too much on what were the policies of the Respondent. Attempts should be made to concentrate on the most recent and most serious allegations to limit the scope of the hearings.

Judges:

Judge, Mummery, May LJJ

Citations:

Times 06-Dec-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 1686, [2003] IRLR 96, [2003] 1 All ER 654, [2002] All ER (D) 407, [2003] ICR 530

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Hendricks EAT 5-Nov-2001
EAT Jurisdiction – (no sub-topic). . .
Cited – Owusu v London Fire and Civil Defence Authority EAT 1-Mar-1995
The employee complained of his employer’s repeated failure to regrade him, and alleged discrimination. The employer said his claim was out of time.
Held: Mummery J made the distinction between single acts of discrimination, and continuing . .

Cited by:

Cited – Chief Constable of Kent County Constabulary v Baskerville CA 3-Sep-2003
The claimant sought damages for sex discrimination by fellow police officers in an action against the Chief Constable. The Chief Constable said he was liable for the unlawful acts of fellow officers.
Held: Anything done by an employee was done . .
Cited – James v Blockbuster Entertainment Ltd CA 23-Oct-2008
The claimant renewed his application for leave to appeal.
Held: The claimant’s first ground was unarguable. His original application failed to comply with the requirements of the 2002 Act. On the second ground, the tribunal had disagreed with . .
Cited – Arthur v London Eastern Railway Ltd (T/A One Stansted Express) CA 25-Oct-2006
The claimant brought a claim for detriment suffered after he had made a protected disclosure. The employer replied that he was out of the three month time limit. He had been off sick after being assaulted, and said that his employers had treated him . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Discrimination, Police, Employment

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.178476

Mastromatteo v Italy: ECHR 24 Oct 2002

The deceased had been a bystander killed by a group of criminals, some of whom were on leave of absence from prison and one of whom had absconded from prison. A complaint was made by the applicant that there had been a breach of the positive duty to protect her son’s life in that the Italian authorities had granted prison leave to very dangerous criminals. The criminals did not pose a particular risk to the applicant’s son; they posed a risk to the lives of the public at large.
Held: A complaint that the state had violated its substantive obligation under article 2 was rejected. The form of investigation by a state into a death might vary according to the circumstances. In the sphere of negligence a civil or disciplinary remedy might suffice. In an investigation for which State agents or authorities are allegedly responsible, it is necessary for the persons responsible for the investigation to be independent from those implicated in the events. This meant hierarchical or institutional independence and also practical independence.
‘The situation examined in the Osman and Paul and Audrey Edwards cases concerned the requirement of personal protection of one or more individuals identifiable in advance as the potential target of a lethal act.
The instant case differs from those cases in that it is not a question here of determining whether the responsibility of the authorities is engaged for failing to provide personal protection to A. Mastromatteo; what is at issue is the obligation to afford general protection to society against the potential acts of one or of several persons serving a prison sentence for a violent crime and the determination of the scope of that protection.’

Judges:

Wildhaber P

Citations:

37703/97, [2002] ECHR 694

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 2

Citing:

Cited – Osman v The United Kingdom ECHR 28-Oct-1998
Police’s Complete Immunity was Too Wide
(Grand Chamber) A male teacher developed an obsession with a male pupil. He changed his name by deed poll to the pupil’s surname. He was required to teach at another school. The pupil’s family’s property was subjected to numerous acts of vandalism, . .

Cited by:

Cited – Khan, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Health CA 10-Oct-2003
The claimant’s child had died as a result of negligence in hospital. The parents had been told the result of police investigation and decision not to prosecute, and the hospital’s own investigation, but had not been sufficiently involved. There . .
Cited – Middleton, Regina (on the Application of) v Coroner for the Western District of Somerset HL 11-Mar-2004
The deceased had committed suicide in prison. His family felt that the risk should have been known to the prison authorities, and that they had failed to guard against that risk. The coroner had requested an explanatory note from the jury.
Cited – Plymouth City Council v HM Coroner for the County of Devon and Another Admn 27-May-2005
The local authority in whose care the deceased child had been held challenged a decision by the coroner not to limit his inquiry to the last few days of the child’s life. The coroner had decided that he had an obligation to conduct a wider enquiry . .
Cited – Birks, Regina (On the Application of) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis Admn 25-Sep-2014
The claimant police officer sought judicial review of a decision to continue his suspension. He had been investigated and cleared after a death in custody. He sought to join the Church of England Ministry and was offered a post. He was re-assured . .
Cited – Sarjantson v Humberside Police CA 18-Oct-2013
The claimant had been severely injured in an attack by a group of young men. He said that the defendant had failed in its duty to protect him and his family. He now appealed against the action being struck out.
Held: the judge’s interpretation . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Police

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.177909

Roberts, Regina (on the application of) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and another: SC 17 Dec 2015

The Court considered the validity of suspicionless stop and search activities under s 60 of the 1994 Act, by police officers.
Held: The claimant’s appeal failed. The safeguards attending the use of the s 60 power, and in particular the requirements to give reasons both for the authorisation and for the stop and search, make it possible to judge whether the power has been exercised lawfully. Both the power and the particular search of Mrs Roberts were in accordance with the law.

Judges:

Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Clarke, Lord Reed, Lord Toulson, Lord Hodge

Citations:

[2015] UKSC 79, [2016] 1 Cr App R 19, [2016] 1 WLR 210, [2015] WLR(D) 536, 41 BHRC 93, [2016] Crim LR 278, [2016] 2 All ER 1005, [2016] HRLR 5, UKSC 2014/0138

Links:

Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary, WLRD

Statutes:

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 60, European Convention on Human Rights 8

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Thompson v Commissioner of Police of Metropolis; Hsu v Same CA 20-Feb-1997
CS Damages of 200,000 pounds by way of exemplary damages had been awarded against the police for unlawful arrest and assault.
Held: The court gave a guideline maximum pounds 50,000 award against police for . .
Cited – HL v United Kingdom ECHR 10-Sep-2002
(Admissibility) Whether a detention amounts to a deprivation of liberty depends upon all the facts and circumstances of the particular case . .
At First Instance – Roberts, Regina (on The Application of) v The Commissioner of The Metropolitan Police Admn 17-Jul-2012
The claimant challenged the legality of section 60 of the 1994 Act as an interference in her article 8 rights. She had been caught on a bus without her fare and gave a false name and address. A direction had been given authorising any person to be . .
Cited – Lumba (WL) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 23-Mar-2011
The claimants had been detained under the 1971 Act, after completing sentences of imprisonment pending their return to their home countries under deportations recommended by the judges at trial, or chosen by the respondent. They challenged as . .
Appeal from – Roberts, Regina (on The Application of) v The Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis and Others CA 4-Feb-2014
The claimant asserted that the provisions of section 60 of the 1994 Act, which allowed personal searches by police officers where no suspicion of misbehaviour was present, infringed her rights under Article 8 of the Convention.
Held: The . .
Cited – Beghal v Director of Public Prosecutions SC 22-Jul-2015
Questions on Entry must be answered
B was questioned at an airport under Schedule 7 to the 2000 Act, and required to answer questions asked by appropriate officers for the purpose set out. She refused to answer and was convicted of that refusal , contrary to paragraph 18 of that . .
Cited – Gillan, Regina (on the Application of) v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and Another HL 8-Mar-2006
The defendants said that the stop and search powers granted under the 2000 Act were too wide, and infringed their human rights. Each had been stopped when innocently attending demonstrations in London, and had been effectively detained for about . .
Cited – T and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department and Another SC 18-Jun-2014
T and JB, asserted that the reference in certificates issued by the state to cautions given to them violated their right to respect for their private life under article 8 of the Convention. T further claims that the obligation cast upon him to . .
Cited – Ferdinand Jozef Colon v The Netherlands ECHR 15-May-2012
Acting under the Municipalities Act, with the authority of a byelaw passed by the local council, the Burgomaster of Amsterdam designated most of the old centre of Amsterdam as a security risk area for a period of six months and again for a further . .
Cited – Jackson v Stevenson 1897
At common law, it is contrary to constitutional principle and illegal to search someone to establish whether there are grounds for an arrest . .
Cited – O’Loughlin v Chief Constable of Essex CA 12-Dec-1997
Police, when using force to enter premises, must still give their reasons for effecting their entry, to the occupant, unless this was impossible or undesirable.
Buxton LJ said: ‘This paragraph strictly speaking did not apply in the present . .
Cited – Abrahams v Commissioner of the Police for the Metropolis CA 8-Dec-2000
The claimant had been arrested for swearing at a police officer. After her arrest, the claimant made admissions to secure a caution, rather than risk prosecution. She later sought to begin a civil action for damages against the police in the course . .
Cited – Brooks v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and others HL 21-Apr-2005
The claimant was with Stephen Lawrence when they were both attacked and Mr Lawrence killed. He claimed damages for the negligent way the police had dealt with his case, and particularly said that they had failed to assess him as a victim of crime, . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis v ZH CA 14-Feb-2013
The claimant was a young epileptic and autistic adult. On a supervised trip to a swimming pool, he became fascinated by the water, and the pool staff called the police. Through the police misunderstanding his needs, he ended up first in the water . .

Cited by:

Cited – The Christian Institute and Others v The Lord Advocate SC 28-Jul-2016
(Scotland) By the 2014 Act, the Scottish Parliament had provided that each child should have a named person to monitor that child’s needs, with information about him or her shared as necessary. The Institute objected that the imposed obligation to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Human Rights

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.556983

Crooks v Ebanks: PC 30 Mar 1999

PC (Jamaica) Whilst chasing an armed criminal, the police officer tripped, discharging his gun, which hit the claimant. She sought damages. The officer claimed immunity under the Act.
Held: The dropping of the revolver and the discharging of the round were not for the purpose of vindicating and giving effect to the law, and the officer did not have immunity. In the historical context of the distinction between an action on the case and an action for trespass, a claim in respect of consequential injury arising from negligence would have been brought as an action on the case. Therefore it would have been unnecessary to provide in section 33 that: ‘Every action to be brought against any Constable for any act done by him in the execution of his office, shall be an action on the case as for a tort’, if that section was to apply to a claim in negligence for consequential injury.

Judges:

Lord Slynn of Hadley, Lord Steyn, Lord Clyde, Lord Hutton, Sir Andrew Leggatt

Citations:

[1999] UKPC 17, Appeal No 32 of 1997

Links:

Bailii, PC, PC, PC

Statutes:

Constabulary Force Act 1935 33

Citing:

Cited – Trobridge v Hardy 1995
(High Court of Australia) Police (W.A.) – Action against police constable – Acts done in carrying the provisions of the Police Act 1892-1953 into effect – Person ‘suspected of offending against’ Act – Statutory protection without. ‘direct proof of . .
Cited – Hermann v Seneschal 1862
In considering immunity given to officers acting in execution of their duty, ‘I think the governing question for the jury was, whether the defendant really believed that the facts existed which would bring the case within the statute . . , and . .
Cited – Theobald v Crichmore 1818
The object (sc. of the protective statute) ‘was clearly to protect persons acting illegally, but in supposed pursuance, and with a bona fide intention of discharging their duty under the Act of Parliament’ . .
Cited – Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire HL 28-Apr-1987
No General ty of Care Owed by Police
The mother of a victim of the Yorkshire Ripper claimed in negligence against the police alleging that they had failed to satisfy their duty to exercise all reasonable care and skill to apprehend the perpetrator of the murders and to protect members . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Commonwealth, Personal Injury, Police

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.174597

Brooks v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and others: CA 26 Mar 2002

The claimant was with Stephen Lawrence when he was murdered by a gang of white youths. He said that the police treatment of him exacerbated the post traumatic stress he suffered.
Held: His claim failed. The allegations against the police might be factually accurate but disclosed no case in law.

Judges:

Lord Justice Clarke

Citations:

[2002] EWCA Civ 407, [2005] 1 WLR 1495

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Brooks v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and others HL 21-Apr-2005
The claimant was with Stephen Lawrence when they were both attacked and Mr Lawrence killed. He claimed damages for the negligent way the police had dealt with his case, and particularly said that they had failed to assess him as a victim of crime, . .
Cited – Sutradhar v Natural Environment Research Council HL 5-Jul-2006
Preliminary Report of Risk – No Duty of Care
The claimant sought damages after suffering injury after the creation of water supplies which were polluted with arsenic. He said that a report had identified the risks. The defendant said that the report was preliminary only and could not found a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Negligence

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.170023

Gibson v Orr, the Chief Constable, Strathlclyde Police: SCS 26 Feb 1999

The pursuer and his passengers were injured when he drove off a bridge which had been damaged in a severe rainstorm. He claimed in negligence against the police, who had been informed of the collapse of the bridge, but had not erected any warning signs. As a result, a car fell into the river, killing two people and injuring a third.
Held: Lord Hamilton rejected a submission that, by reference to Hill, there was ‘no general duty of care owed by the police towards private individuals’. His Lordship said: ‘there is no close analogy, in my view, as regards the policy issue between the exercise by the police of their function of investigating and suppressing crime and the exercise by them of their function of performing civil operational tasks concerned with human safety on the public roads. It was not disputed that the police enjoy no immunity on public policy grounds in respect of the manner in which a constable drives his police vehicle or his motor cycle on the public roads. There would likewise be no immunity, in my view, in respect of the manner in which a constable in charge of directing traffic on such a road performed that function. Likewise, there is no immunity, in my view, in respect of the manner in which other civil road safety operational tasks are carried out by police officers where there is no inherent problem of conflict with instructions issued by superior officers or with duties owed to other persons.
Lord Hamilton later commented on what he called ‘a tide in the English courts’ towards a wide interpretation of what had been said in Hill, which he suggested ‘may now be running less strongly’. He continued: ‘Moreover, the decision of the Court of Human Rights in Osman v United Kingdom [[1998] ECHR 101], together with the position adopted by the UK Government before that court that ‘the exclusion was not a blanket exclusion of liability but a carefully and narrowly focused limitation which applied only in respect of the investigation and suppression of crime, and even then not in every case’, may also lead to some reconsideration of the scope of the public policy immunity accorded to the police in some of the English decisions.’

Judges:

Lord Hamilton

Citations:

[1999] ScotCS 61, 1999 SCLR 661, 1999 SC 420

Links:

Bailii, ScotC

Statutes:

Police (Scotland) Act 1967 39(1)

Cited by:

Cited – Hertfordshire Police v Van Colle; Smith v Chief Constable of Sussex Police HL 30-Jul-2008
Police Obligations to Witnesses is Limited
A prosecution witness was murdered by the accused shortly before his trial. The parents of the deceased alleged that the failure of the police to protect their son was a breach of article 2.
Held: The House was asked ‘If the police are alerted . .
Cited – An Informer v A Chief Constable CA 29-Feb-2012
The claimant appealed against dismissal of his claim for damages against the police. He had provided them with information, but he said that they had acted negligently and in breach of contract causing him financial loss. The officer handling his . .
Cited – An Informer v A Chief Constable CA 29-Feb-2012
The claimant appealed against dismissal of his claim for damages against the police. He had provided them with information, but he said that they had acted negligently and in breach of contract causing him financial loss. The officer handling his . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Scotland, Police, Negligence

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.169664

Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary v Chew: EAT 27 Sep 2001

The Constabulary appealed against a decision that they were guilty of indirect sex discrimination, as regards the way they had implemented part time working and shift duties. The parties differed as the pool of employees from which the comparison was to be taken. There were unresolved issues of fact, and if these would affect the decision, the case would have to be remitted to the ET for hearing. More women than men could not comply with the new arrangements, and the difficulties were associated with child care responsibilities. The test was in two stages, was there a disparate effect of the condition applied, and was the detriment justified. The question was one of discretion, and the tribunal had not erred in law.
EAT Sex Discrimination – Indirect

Judges:

The Honourable Mr Justice Charles

Citations:

EAT/503/00, [2001] UKEAT 503 – 00 – 2809

Links:

Bailii, EAT

Statutes:

Sex Discrimination Act 1975

Citing:

Cited – London Underground Limited v Edwards CA 21-May-1998
A new driver roster imposing shift working timetables discriminated against women since significantly less in proportion of women could meet the new arrangements – indirect discrimination . .
Cited – Seymour-Smith and Perez; Regina v Secretary of State for Employment, Ex Parte Seymour-Smith and Another ECJ 9-Feb-1999
Awards made by an industrial tribunal for unfair dismissal are equivalent to pay for equal pay purposes. A system which produced a differential effect between sexes was not indirect discrimination unless the difference in treatment between men and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Discrimination

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.168336

Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police v Liversidge: EAT 21 Sep 2001

The Chief Constable appealed against a refusal to strike out a claim by the respondent that he had racially discriminated against her. Force members had used code words for racially abusive terms about her. The claim was that he was vicariously liable for the acts of his Force members. Liability was asserted against the chief constable under the De Vere case, but no assertion was pleaded to bring it within that rule.
Held: Police officers are not employees in the simple sense, and the Act did not make the Chief Constable vicariously liable.
EAT Race Discrimination – Direct

Judges:

The Honourable Mr Justice Lindsay (President)

Citations:

EAT/773/00, [2002] ICR 1135, [2001] UKEAT 773 – 00 – 2109

Links:

Bailii, EATn

Statutes:

Race Relations Act 1976 16 32(3)

Citing:

Cited – Burton and Another v De Vere Hotels EAT 3-Oct-1996
Two black waitresses, clearing tables in the banqueting hall of a hotel, were made the butt of racist and sexist jibes by a guest speaker entertaining the assembled all-male company at a private dinner party.
Held: The employer of the . .
Cited – Sheikh v Chief Constable 1989
. .
See also – Bedfordshire Police v Liversidge EAT 10-Jul-2000
. .

Cited by:

Distinguished – Chief Constable of Kent County Constabulary v Baskerville CA 3-Sep-2003
The claimant sought damages for sex discrimination by fellow police officers in an action against the Chief Constable. The Chief Constable said he was liable for the unlawful acts of fellow officers.
Held: Anything done by an employee was done . .
Appeal from – Bedfordshire Police v Liversidge CA 11-Dec-2001
. .
See Also – Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police v Liversidge EAT 13-Dec-2001
. .
See Also – Bedfordshire Police v Liversidge CA 24-May-2002
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Discrimination, Police, Employment, Employment, Discrimination, Employment

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.168310

Regina v Nolan: CACD 15 Feb 2002

The defendant was accused of murder. He had been identified by a witness who knew him, but the witness himself was murdered before the trial. The court allowed the prosecutor to read the deceased witness’ statement. Another witness for whom an ID parade had been held had only seen the defendant from the rear, but the defence were not informed of this before the parade.
Held: The scheme of the code required an identification parade if identification was disputed, but it was also required before a parade that the officer believed it would be useful, and the suspect consented. There could be no requirement to inform a suspect of the angle from which the suspect had been seen. The consent was not as to the identification, but the process of the parade, and therefore it did not affect the fairness of introducing the evidence. As to the admission of the evidence of the deceased witness, it was more than a fleeting glimpse, and no counsel would wish to cross examine such a witness in great depth. The conviction was safe.

Judges:

Lord Justice Longmore Mr Justice Gibbs And The Recorder Of Leeds

Citations:

[2002] EWCA Crim 464

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Code of Practice for the Identification of Persons by Police Officers (Code D of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984), Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, Criminal Justice Act 1988 26

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Director of Public Prosecutions, ex parte Lee Admn 18-Mar-1999
Application for judicial review of CPS decision on disclosure of evidence before committal.
Held: The court recognised an ongoing duty of disclosure from the time of arrest. At the stage before committal, there are continuing obligations on . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Evidence, Police

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167999

Walker v The Commissioner of The Police of The Metropolis: CA 1 Jul 2014

The minimal extent of a person’s detention by a police officer who was not exercising the power of arrest would not prevent his detention from being unlawful and amounting to false imprisonment. It was held to be false imprisonment for a police officer to stand in the front doorway of a house so as to prevent the claimant from leaving, even for a very short time, but it was not a deprivation of liberty within the meaning of article 5.

Judges:

Rimer, Tomlinson LJJ, Sir Bernard Rix

Citations:

[2014] EWCA Civ 897, [2014] WLR(D) 289, [2015] 1 WLR 312, [2015] 1 Cr App R 22

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Jalloh, Regina (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department SC 12-Feb-2020
Claim for damages for false imprisonment brought in judicial review proceedings challenging the legality of a curfew imposed upon the claimant, purportedly under paragraph 2(5) of Schedule 3 to the Immigration Act 1971.
Held: The Court of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Torts – Other, Human Rights

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.533673

Austin and Another v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis: CA 15 Oct 2007

The claimants appealed dismissal of their claims for false imprisonment and unlawful detention by the respondent in his policing of a demonstration. They had been held within a police cordon in the streets for several hours to prevent the spread of violence. One claimant had been simply there on business.
Held: The appeal failed. In exceptional circumstances it was lawful for the police to act in this way to prevent an imminent breach of the peace.
Sir Anthony Clarke MR summarised the effect of the speeches in Laporte on the issue of third parties’ rights: ‘As we read the speeches of Lord Rodger and Lord Brown they give some support for the following propositions:
i) where a breach of the peace is taking place, or is reasonably thought to be imminent, before the police can take any steps which interfere with or curtail in any way the lawful exercise of rights by innocent third parties they must ensure that they have taken all other possible steps to ensure that the breach, or imminent breach, is obviated and that the rights of innocent third parties are protected;
ii) the taking of all other possible steps includes (where practicable), but is not limited to, ensuring that proper and advance preparations have been made to deal with such a breach, since failure to take such steps will render interference with the rights of innocent third parties unjustified or unjustifiable; but
iii) where (and only where) there is a reasonable belief that there are no other means whatsoever whereby a breach or imminent breach of the peace can be obviated, the lawful exercise by third parties of their rights may be curtailed by the police;
iv) this is a test of necessity which it is to be expected can only be justified in truly extreme and exceptional circumstances; and
v) the action taken must be both reasonably necessary and proportionate.’

Judges:

Sir Anthony Clarke MR

Citations:

[2007] EWCA Civ 989, Times 29-Oct-2007, [2008] QB 660, [2008] 1 All ER 564, [2008] HRLR 1, [2008] 2 WLR 415, [2008] UKHRR 205

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the application of ) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire HL 13-Dec-2006
The claimants had been in coaches being driven to take part in a demonstration at an air base. The defendant police officers stopped the coaches en route, and, without allowing any number of the claimants to get off, returned the coaches to London. . .
Appeal from – Austin and Another v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis QBD 23-Mar-2005
The claimants had variously been attending a demonstration in London, or passing through. The police detained them in a cordon for several hours. They sought damages. No unlawful acts were alleged against them.
Held: There was no deprivation . .
Cited – Ziliberberg v Moldova ECHR 1-Feb-2005
The court observed that: ‘the right to freedom of assembly is a fundamental right in a democratic society and, like the right to freedom of expression, is one of the foundations of such a society.’ it is possible to distinguish between interferences . .
Cited – Blum and others v Director of Public Prosecutions and others Admn 20-Dec-2006
. .
Cited – O’Kelly v Harvey 1882
(Court of Appeal in Ireland) The plaintiff, a nationalist Member of Parliament, sued the defendant for assault and battery. There had been a meeting which was to be held on 7 December 1880. On the day before, a placard appeared summoning local . .
Cited – Beatty v Gillbanks QBD 13-Jun-1882
The appellants assembled with others for a lawful purpose, and with no intention of carrying it out unlawfully, but with the knowledge that their assembly would be opposed, and with good reason to suppose that a breach of the peace would be . .
Cited – Guzzardi v Italy ECHR 6-Nov-1980
The applicant, a suspected Mafioso, had been detained in custody pending his trial. At the end of the maximum period of detention pending trial, he had been taken to an island where, he complained, he was unable to work, keep his family permanently . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Austin and Another v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis HL 28-Jan-2009
Movement retsriction was not Liberty Deprivation
The claimants had been present during a demonstration policed by the respondent. They appealed against dismissal of their claims for false imprisonment having been prevented from leaving Oxford Circus for over seven hours. The claimants appealed . .
Cited – Castle and Others v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis Admn 8-Sep-2011
The claimants, all under 17 years old, took a peaceful part in a substantial but disorderly demonstration in London. The police decided to contain the section of crowd which included the claimants. The claimants said that the containment of children . .
Cited – Jalloh, Regina (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department SC 12-Feb-2020
Claim for damages for false imprisonment brought in judicial review proceedings challenging the legality of a curfew imposed upon the claimant, purportedly under paragraph 2(5) of Schedule 3 to the Immigration Act 1971.
Held: The Court of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Human Rights, Torts – Other

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.259838

Cowan and Another v The Chief Constable for Avon and Somerset Constabulary: CA 14 Nov 2001

Where police had been called to an incident where a member of the public had been threatened with violence if he did not leave premises, did not have a duty to take action under the Act toward the applicant. It is only if a particular responsibility towards an individual arises, establishing a sufficiently close relationship, that a duty of care is owed to that individual. An officer’s presence at a scene was not enough alone to give rise to a duty. In this case they were present to prevent a breach of the peace, not to intervene in or assess private relations.

Judges:

Lord Justice Robert Walker, Lord Justice Keene, Sir Christopher Slade

Citations:

Times 11-Dec-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 1699, (2002) HLR 830

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Protection from Eviction Act 1977

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Chief Constable of Northumbria v Costello CA 3-Dec-1998
A woman police officer was attacked by a prisoner in a cell. She sought damages for the failure of a senior officer nearby not to come to her aid, and from the chief constable under his vicarious liability.
Held: The chief constable’s appeal . .
Cited – Capital and Counties Plc and Another v Hampshire County Council QBD 26-Apr-1996
The Fire Brigade was negligent in turning off a sprinkler system in a burning building. . .

Cited by:

Cited – Brooks v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and others HL 21-Apr-2005
The claimant was with Stephen Lawrence when they were both attacked and Mr Lawrence killed. He claimed damages for the negligent way the police had dealt with his case, and particularly said that they had failed to assess him as a victim of crime, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Negligence

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.166817

Director of Public Prosecutions v Avery: QBD 11 Oct 2001

The case concerned an appeal following a demonstration. The Chief constable had made an order under section 60, anticipating serious violence. The respondent wore a mask, and the officer reached out to remove it. She hit out and broke his glasses. He did nothing to identify himself or the purpose of his action. Magistrates decided he had failed to comply with the PACE requirements before his action.
Held: The new section is a significant interference with the civil liberties of the citizen. However the request to remove the mask is explanation enough of its purpose. Parliament had considered these issues and set out the powers it required. The prosecution’s appeal was allowed.

Judges:

Lord Justice Brooke and Mr Justice Newman

Citations:

Times 08-Nov-2001, [2001] EWHC Admin 784

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 60, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

Citing:

Cited – Christie v Leachinsky HL 25-Mar-1947
Arrested Person must be told basis of the Arrest
Police officers appealed against a finding of false imprisonment. The plaintiff had been arrested under the 1921 Act, but this provided no power of arrest (which the appellant knew). The officers might lawfully have arrested the plaintiff for the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Human Rights

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.166540

Surrey Police Authority v Beckett: CA 31 Jul 2001

The court was asked whether a senior police officer, suspended under police disciplinary regulations following a complaint made against him, whose appointment to office under a fixed term contract then expires by effluxion of time, nevertheless remains subject to the disciplinary process.

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 1253

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.166273

Jasper v The United Kingdom: ECHR 16 Feb 2000

Grand Chamber – The defendants had been convicted after the prosecution had withheld evidence from them and from the judge under public interest immunity certificates. They complained that they had not had fair trials.
Held: The right was breached insofar as the prosecution had themselves sought to make that assessment without judicial involvement. Disclosure at a later stage on appeal was not a sufficient remedy, since the task of the appellate court was different. Nevertheless if the judge had been given some involvement, a necessary withholding could be proper. The court recognised that it was a ‘fundamental aspect of the right to a fair trial that criminal proceedings, including the elements of such proceedings which relate to procedure, should be adversarial and that there should be equality of arms between the prosecution and defence. The right to an adversarial trial means, in a criminal case, that both prosecution and defence must be given the opportunity to have knowledge of and comment on the observations filed and the evidence adduced by the other party. In addition Article 6(1) requires, as indeed does English law, that the prosecution authorities should disclose to the defence all material evidence in their possession for or against the accused’ but ‘the European Court’s task is to ascertain whether the decision-making procedure applied in each case complied, as far as possible, with the requirements of adversarial proceedings and equality of arms and incorporated adequate safeguards to protect the interests of the accused’.

Judges:

Wildhaber P

Citations:

Times 01-Mar-2000, 28901/95, (2000) 30 EHRR 441, (2000) 30 EHHR 1, (2000) 30 EHRR 480, [2000] ECHR 90

Links:

Bailii, Worldlii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 5 6.1

Citing:

Conjoined Hearing – Fitt v United Kingdom ECHR 16-Feb-2000
(Grand Chamber) Complaint as to non-disclosure of prosecution evidence. . .
Conjoined Hearing – Rowe and Davis v The United Kingdom ECHR 16-Feb-2000
(Grand Chamber) Complaint as to non-disclosure of prosecution evidence. . .
Conjoined Hearing – Amann v Switzerland ECHR 16-Feb-2000
(Grand Chamber) Complaint as to non-disclosure of prosecution evidence.
Held: The holding and use of the information in question had not been ‘in accordance with the law’, as required by article 8(2), because of the absence from the relevant . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Botmeh; Regina v Alami CACD 1-Nov-2001
In an appeal, the Crown sought leave to apply ex parte to have make certain information subject of a public interest immunity certificate. The defence argued that that was possible only on a first instance hearing.
Held: The procedures were . .
Cited – Dowsett v The United Kingdom ECHR 24-Jun-2003
The applicant had been convicted along with others of a murder. He now alleged that the police had refused to disclose evidence which would have supported his defence. Some had been disclosed but some still withheld on public interest grounds by the . .
Cited – Edwards and Lewis v The United Kingdom ECHR 22-Jul-2003
(Commission) The claimants said that the procedures used to secure their convictions amounted to entrapment, and that UK criminal procedures did not give sufficient protection so as to provide a fair trial. One was arrested with heroin, and the . .
Cited – Regina v H; Regina v C CACD 16-Oct-2003
The defendants were charged with serious drugs offences. The prosecutor had applied for public interest immunity certificates. The judge had required the appointment of independent counsel. The prosecutor appealed.
Held: The same district . .
Cited – Regina v H; Regina v C HL 5-Feb-2004
Use of Special Counsel as Last Resort Only
The accused faced charges of conspiring to supply Class A drugs. The prosecution had sought public interest immunity certificates. Special counsel had been appointed by the court to represent the defendants’ interests at the applications.
Cited – Hammond, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department Admn 25-Nov-2004
The defendant had heard that the sentencing judge would set his sentence tarriff without an oral hearing, and would then give his decision in open court. He sought judicial review.
Held: Review was granted. The availability of a right of . .
Cited – Regina v Lewis CACD 6-Apr-2005
The defendant had been convicted under the 1981 Act. The European Court of Human Rights had found that police officers had infringed his human rights by their entrapment of him into offering them counterfeit currency. He now appealed his conviction. . .
Cited – Holland v Her Majesty’s Advocate (Devolution) PC 11-May-2005
The defendant appealed his convictions for robbery. He had been subject to a dock identification, and he complained that the prosecution had failed in its duties of disclosure.
Held: The combination of several failings meant that the defendant . .
Cited – Sinclair v Her Majesty’s Advocate PC 11-May-2005
(Devolution) The defendant complained that the prosecutor had failed to disclose all the witness statements taken, which hid inconsistencies in their versions of events.
Held: The appeal was allowed. It was fundamental to a fair trial that the . .
Cited – Roberts v Parole Board HL 7-Jul-2005
Balancing Rights of Prisoner and Society
The appellant had been convicted of the murder of three police officers in 1966. His tariff of thirty years had now long expired. He complained that material put before the Parole Board reviewing has case had not been disclosed to him.
Held: . .
Cited – Hammond, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 1-Dec-2005
The claimants had been convicted of murder, but their tariffs had not yet been set when the 2003 Act came into effect. They said that the procedure under which their sentence tarriffs were set were not compliant with their human rights in that the . .
Cited – Regina v Davis (Iain); Regina v Ellis, Regina v Gregory, Regina v Simms, Regina v Martin CACD 19-May-2006
The several defendants complained at the use at their trials of evidence given anonymously. The perceived need for anonymity arose because, from intimidation, the witnesses would not be willing to give their evidence without it.
Held: The . .
Cited – Regina v Sargent HL 25-Oct-2001
When a telephone engineer used his position to make unauthorised telephone intercepts, and produced apparent evidence of criminal activity, he was, under the Act, a person engaged in providing a public communications system, and the recordings were . .
Cited – Secretary of State for the Home Department v AF AM and AN etc CA 17-Oct-2008
The claimants were subject to non-derogating control orders, being non EU nationals suspected of terrorism. They now said that they had not had a compatible hearing as to the issue of whether they were in fact involved in terrorist activity.
Cited – Smith v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 30-Jan-2007
The defendant appealed his conviction for driving with excess alcohol, arguing that the prosecution had failed to provide the roadside breath test figures.
Held: The appeal failed, and was indeed hopeless. Pill LJ said: ‘The specimens of . .
Cited – Fraser v Her Majesty’s Advocate SC 25-May-2011
The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder, saying that the prosecution had failed to disclose certain matters.
Held: The appeal succeeded, the conviction was quashed and the case remitted to the Scottish courts to consider . .
Cited – Kennedy v United Kingdom ECHR 18-May-2010
The claimant complained that after alleging unlawful interception of his communications, the hearing before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal was not attended by appropriate safeguards. He had been a campaigner against police abuse. His requests to . .
Conjoined Hearing – Amann v Switzerland ECHR 16-Feb-2000
(Grand Chamber) Complaint as to non-disclosure of prosecution evidence.
Held: The holding and use of the information in question had not been ‘in accordance with the law’, as required by article 8(2), because of the absence from the relevant . .
Conjoined Hearing – Rowe and Davis v The United Kingdom ECHR 16-Feb-2000
(Grand Chamber) Complaint as to non-disclosure of prosecution evidence. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Police, Criminal Practice

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165820

Selmouni v France: ECHR 28 Jul 1999

Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Preliminary objection rejected (non-exhaustion); Violation of Art. 3; Violation of Art. 6-1; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses award – Convention proceedings
The claimant said that he had been severely beaten whilst detained in police custody for interview.
Held: ‘Article 3 enshrines one of the most fundamental values of democratic societies. Even in the most difficult circumstances, such as the fight against terrorism and organised crime, the Convention prohibits in absolute terms torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment . . Article 3 makes no provision for exceptions and no derogation from it is permissible under Article 15(2) even in the event of public emergency threatening the life of the nation . . In order to determine whether a particular form of ill-treatment should be qualified as torture, the court must have regard to the distinction, embodied in Article 3, between this notion and that of inhuman or degrading treatment. As the European Court has previously found, it appears that it was the intention that the Convention should, by means of this distinction, attach a special stigma to deliberate inhuman treatment causing very serious and cruel suffering . . The acts complained of [in Selmouni] were such as to arouse in the applicant feelings of fear, anguish, and inferiority capable of humiliating and debasing him and possibly breaking his physical and moral resistance. The court therefore finds elements which are sufficiently serious as to render such treatment inhuman and degrading . . In any event, the court reiterates that, in respect of a person deprived of his liberty, recourse to physical force which has not been made strictly necessary by his own conduct diminishes human dignity and is in principle an infringement of the right set forth in Article 3 . .
The court has previously examined cases in which it concluded that there had been treatment which could only be described as torture . . However, having regard to the fact that the Convention is a ‘living instrument which must be interpreted in the light of present-day conditions’, the court considers that certain acts which were classified in the past as ‘inhuman and degrading treatment’ as opposed to ‘torture’ could be classified differently in future . . It takes the view that the increasingly high standard being required in the area of the protection of human rights and fundamental liberties correspondingly and inevitably requires greater firmness in assessing breaches of the fundamental values of democratic societies.’

Judges:

L Wildhaber, P

Citations:

(1999) 29 EHRR 403, 25803/94, [1999] ECHR 66, (2000) 7 BHRC 1

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 3

Citing:

Cited – Selmouni v France ECHR 25-Nov-1996
. .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Home Department ex parte Turgut CA 28-Jan-2000
When the Court of Appeal was asked to look at the decision of the Home Secretary on an appeal to him for asylum, the court should investigate the factual circumstances which lay behind the decision. The court must follow the practice of the European . .
Cited – PS, Regina (on the Application of) v Responsible Medical Officer, Dr G and others Admn 10-Oct-2003
The claimant had been compulsorily detained under the Act. He complained that the detention and compulsory medication infringed his rights, and amongst other things breached his religious beliefs.
Held: This was an exceptional case requiring . .
Cited – A and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department (No 2) HL 8-Dec-2005
Evidence from 3rd Party Torture Inadmissible
The applicants had been detained following the issue of certificates issued by the respondent that they posed a terrorist threat. They challenged the decisions of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission saying that evidence underlying the . .
Judgment – Selmouni v France ECHR 3-Dec-2009
Execution of judgment . .
Cited – Eweida And Others v The United Kingdom ECHR 15-Jan-2013
Eweida_ukECHR2013
The named claimant had been employed by British Airways. She was a committed Christian and wished to wear a small crucifix on a chain around her neck. This breached the then dress code and she was dismissed. Her appeals had failed. Other claimants . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Police

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165752

Assenov and Others v Bulgaria: ECHR 28 Oct 1998

An allegation of violence by a police officer did require a thorough, impartial and careful investigation by a suitable and independent state authority: ‘The court considers that in these circumstances, where an individual raises an arguable claim that he has been seriously ill treated by the police or other such agents of the State unlawfully and in breach of Article 3, that provision, read in conjunction with the State’s general duty under Article 1 of the Convention to ‘secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in . . [the] Convention’, requires by implication that there should be an effective official investigation. This obligation, as with that under Article 2, should be capable of leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible . . If this were not the case the general legal prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, despite its fundamental importance, would be ineffective in practice and it would be possible in some cases for agents of the State to abuse the rights of those within their control with virtual impunity.’

Citations:

24760/94, (1998) 28 EHRR 652, [1998] ECHR 98

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Human Rights

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Police Complaints Authority ex parte Green HL 26-Feb-2004
Discovery was sought of statements created during the investigation of a complaint against a police officer. The claimant argued that a police officer had deliberately driven his car at him.
Held: The investigation by a separate police force . .
Cited – Adam, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Limbuela v Same; Tesema v Same HL 3-Nov-2005
The applicants had each entered the UK with a view to seeking asylum, but having failed to seek asylum immediately, they had been refused any assistance, were not allowed to work and so had been left destitute. Each had claimed asylum on the day . .
Cited – Secretary of State for the Home Department v JN CA 14-May-2008
The Secretary of State appealed against a declaration that paragraph 3(2)(b) of Part 2 of Schedule 3 to the 2004 Act was incompatible with Article 3. The clause was said to restrict the Home Secretary from considering anything beyond the country . .
Cited – Mohamed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 4) Admn 4-Feb-2009
In an earlier judgment, redactions had been made relating to reports by the US government of its treatment of the claimant when held by them at Guantanamo bay. The claimant said he had been tortured and sought the documents to support his defence of . .
Cited – Morrison v The Independent Police Complaints Commission and Others Admn 26-Oct-2009
The claimant made a complaint of a serious assault by the police, by the use of a Taser. The defendant had referred the complaint to the IPCC, who said that they should investigate it themselves. The claimant said that to accord with his human . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis v DSD and Another SC 21-Feb-2018
Two claimants had each been sexually assaulted by a later notorious, multiple rapist. Each had made complaints to police about their assaults but said that no effective steps had been taken to investigate the serious complaints.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Police

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165674

Andronicou And Constantinou v Cyprus: ECHR 9 Oct 1997

Hudoc Preliminary objection rejected (abuse of process); Preliminary objection rejected (non-exhaustion); No violation of Art. 2; No violation of Art. 6-1

Citations:

25052/94, [1995] ECHR 89

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Cited by:

Cited – Andronicou And Constantinou v Cyprus ECHR 9-Oct-1997
ECHR Cyprus – alleged unlawful killing of a young couple by officers of a special police unit (MMAD) in the course of a rescue operation
I. GOVERNMENT’S PRELIMINARY OBJECTIONS
A. Non-exhaustion of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165556

Friedl v Austria: ECHR 31 Jan 1995

The Commission distinguished between the taking and keeping of photographs without identifying the subjects, and police questioning in order to establish identity and the recording of these personal data; the former was not an interference with article 8(1) but the latter was, although it was ‘relatively slight’ (Later friendly settlement).

Citations:

(1995) 21 EHRR 83, 15225/89, [1995] ECHR 12, [1995] ECHR 15225/89, [1995] ECHR 15974/90, (1996) 21 EHRR 1, (1995) 21 EHRR 83

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Cited by:

Cited – S, Regina (on Application of) v South Yorkshire Police; Regina v Chief Constable of Yorkshire Police ex parte Marper HL 22-Jul-2004
Police Retention of Suspects DNA and Fingerprints
The claimants complained that their fingerprints and DNA records taken on arrest had been retained after discharge before trial, saying the retention of the samples infringed their right to private life.
Held: The parts of DNA used for testing . .
Cited – Wood v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis Admn 22-May-2008
The claimant challenged the right of police officers to take his photograph as he attended an annual general meeting of Reed Elsevier Plc. He was a campaigner against the arms trade, but had always acted lawfully. The company noted the purchase of . .
Cited – Marper v United Kingdom; S v United Kingdom ECHR 4-Dec-2008
(Grand Chamber) The applicants complained that on being arrested on suspicion of offences, samples of their DNA had been taken, but then despite being released without conviction, the samples had retained on the Police database.
Held: . .
Cited – Catt and T, Regina (on The Applications of) v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis SC 4-Mar-2015
Police Data Retention Justifiable
The appellants challenged the collection of data by the police, alleging that its retention interfered with their Article 8 rights. C complained of the retention of records of his lawful activities attending political demonstrations, and T . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Police

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165342

Raimondo v Italy: ECHR 22 Feb 1994

The applicant was arrested and placed under house arrest on charges relating to his association with the Mafia. As an interim measure some of his property was seized. The proceedings ended in his acquittal. He claimed that the seizure of his property was a violation of his rights under A1P1.
Held: His complaint was dismissed.The procedure was ‘not comparable to a criminal sanction because it was designed to prevent the commission of offences.’ It followed that the proceedings concerning the supervision did not involve the determination of a criminal charge, and article 6 did not apply. The seizure, as a provisional measure intended to ensure that property which appeared to be the fruit of unlawful activities carried out to the detriment of the community could subsequently be confiscated if necessary, was justified by the general interest. In view of the extremely dangerous economic power of an organisation like the Mafia, it could not be said that taking the step of seizing the property at an early stage of the proceedings was disproportionate to the aim pursued. There was an additional complaint that the property was not only seized but confiscated. However, the confiscation order was rescindable and had in fact been rescinded. In practical terms it entailed no additional restriction to the seizure, and therefore the respondent state was held not to have overstepped the margin of appreciation available to it.

Citations:

[1994] ECHR 3, 12954/87, (1994) 18 EHRR 237

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 6

Cited by:

Cited – R, Regina (on the Application of) v Durham Constabulary and Another HL 17-Mar-2005
The appellant, a boy aged 15, had been warned as to admitted indecent assaults on girls. He complained that it had not been explained to him that the result would be that his name would be placed on the sex offenders register. The Chief Constable . .
Cited – Clingham (formerly C (a minor)) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; Regina v Crown Court at Manchester Ex parte McCann and Others HL 17-Oct-2002
The applicants had been made subject of anti-social behaviour orders. They challenged the basis upon which the orders had been made.
Held: The orders had no identifiable consequences which would make the process a criminal one. Civil standards . .
Cited – Gale and Another v Serious Organised Crime Agency SC 26-Oct-2011
Civil recovery orders had been made against the applicant. He had been accused and acquitted of drug trafficking allegations in Europe, but the judge had been persuaded that he had no proper explanation for the accumulation of his wealth, and had . .
Cited – Barnes (As Former Court Appointed Receiver) v The Eastenders Group and Another SC 8-May-2014
Costs of Wrongly Appointed Receiver
‘The contest in this case is about who should bear the costs and expenses of a receiver appointed under an order which ought not to have been made. The appellant, who is a former partner in a well known firm of accountants, was appointed to act as . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Police

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165291

Fox, Campbell and Hartley v The United Kingdom: ECHR 30 Aug 1990

The court considered the required basis for a reasonable suspicion to found an arrest without a warrant: ‘The ‘reasonableness’ of the suspicion on which an arrest must be based forms an essential part of the safeguard against arbitrary arrest and detention which is laid down in Article 5(1)(c). The court agrees with the Commission and the government that having a ‘reasonable suspicion’ presupposes the existence of facts or information which would satisfy an objective observer that the person concerned may have committed the offence. What may be regarded as ‘reasonable’ will however depend upon all the circumstances.’
As to the duty to inform a suspect about the reason and purpose of hs arrest: ‘Paragraph (2) of Article 5 contains the elementary safeguard that any person arrested should know why he is being deprived of his liberty. This protection is an integral part of the scheme of protection afforded by Article 5: by virtue of paragraph (2) any person arrested must be told in simple, non-technical language that he can understand, the essential legal and factual grounds for his arrest, so as to be able, if he sees fit, to apply to a court to challenge its lawfulness in accordance with paragraph (4). Whilst this information must be conveyed ‘promptly’ (in French: ‘dans le plus court delai’), it need not be related in its entirety by the arresting officer at the very moment of the arrest. Whether the content and promptness of the information conveyed were sufficient is to be assessed in each case according to its special features.’
ECHR Judgment (Merits) – Violation of Art. 5-1; No violation of Art. 5-2; Violation of Art. 5-5; Not necessary to examine Art. 5-4 and 13; Just satisfaction reserved.

Citations:

12244/86, 12245/86, (1990) 13 EHRR 157, [1990] ECHR 18, 12383/86

Links:

Worldlii, Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 5(2)

Jurisdiction:

Human Rights

Cited by:

Cited – Cumming and others v Chief Constable of Northumbria Police CA 17-Dec-2003
The six claimants sought damages for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment. Each had been arrested on an officer’s suspicion. They operated CCTV equipment, and it appeared that tapes showing the commission of an offence had been tampered with. Each . .
Cited – Taylor (A Child Proceeding By his Mother and Litigation Friend C M Taylor) v Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police CA 6-Jul-2004
The Chief Constable appealed aganst a finding that his officers had wrongfully arrested and imprisoned the claimant. The claimant was 10 years old when arrested, and complained that the officers had not properly advised him of the nature and purpose . .
Cited – Al-Fayed and others v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and others CA 25-Nov-2004
The appellants appealed from dismissal of their claims for wrongful imprisonment by the respondent. Each had attended at a police station for interview on allegations of theft. They had been arrested and held pending interview and then released. Mr . .
Cited – A v Secretary of State for the Home Department, and X v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 16-Dec-2004
The applicants had been imprisoned and held without trial, being suspected of international terrorism. No criminal charges were intended to be brought. They were foreigners and free to return home if they wished, but feared for their lives if they . .
Cited – Hough v Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police CA 14-Feb-2001
Where a constable arrested someone based upon information on the police national computer, he was not to be held accountable for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment, if the information upon which that had in turn been based, did not justify the . .
Cited – Secretary of State for the Home Department v AF AM and AN etc CA 17-Oct-2008
The claimants were subject to non-derogating control orders, being non EU nationals suspected of terrorism. They now said that they had not had a compatible hearing as to the issue of whether they were in fact involved in terrorist activity.
See Also – Fox, Campbell And Hartley v The United Kingdom ECHR 27-Mar-1991
ECHR Judgment (Just Satisfaction) – Costs and expenses award – Convention proceedings; Pecuniary damage – claim rejected; Non-pecuniary damage – finding of violation sufficient. . .
Cited – Sher and Others v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police and Others Admn 21-Jul-2010
The claimants, Pakistani students in the UK on student visas, had been arrested and held by the defendants under the 2000 Act before being released 13 days later without charge. They were at first held incognito. They said that their arrest and . .
Cited – McCann v Crown Prosecution Service Admn 21-Aug-2015
Appeal by case stated against conviction for obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty. The appellant had been protesting. She, correctly, thought the land to be a rivate highway. The police officer had thought it a public hghway and . .
Cited – Lee-Hirons v Secretary of State for Justice SC 27-Jul-2016
The appellant had been detained in a mental hospital after a conviction. Later released, he was recalled, but he was not given written reasons as required by a DoH circular. However the SS referred the recall immediately to the Tribunal. He appealed . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Police, Torts – Other

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.165079

McGrath v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and Another: HL 12 Jul 2001

Police were not liable for false imprisonment after arresting a person named in a warrant which had been issued by another police force as a result of one person who was arrested falsely giving the other person’s name. The warrant might have been capable of being struck out as being founded on a mistake of mistake, but it remained valid until it was recalled or cancelled. To comply with the section, and to be absolved from liability the words only required to assert that the person in fact arrested had in fact been charged. It was not necessary to establish that the person named had been charged. The warrant would have been valid in the home jurisdiction, and should be valid within other jurisdictions within the British Isles.
Lord Clyde said that as to an arrest warrant: ‘The warrants must be sufficiently clear and precise in their terms so that all those interested in their execution may know precisely what are the limits of the power which has been granted.’

Judges:

Lord Steyn, Lord Browne-Wilkinson, Lord Cooke of Thorndon, Lord Clyde, Lord Hutton

Citations:

Times 13-Jul-2001, [2001] UKHL 39, [2001] 2 AC 731, [2001] 4 All ER 334, [2001] NI 303, [2001] 3 WLR 312

Links:

Bailii, House of Lords

Statutes:

Criminal Law Act 1977 38(3)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Faisaltex Ltd and others, Regina (on the Application of) v Crown Court Sitting at Preston and others etc Admn 21-Nov-2008
Nine claimants sought leave to bring judicial review of the issue of search warrants against solicitors’ and business and other premises, complaining of the seizure of excluded material and of special procedure material. There were suspicions of the . .
Cited – Global Cash and Carry Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v Birmingham Magistrates’ Court and Others Admn 19-Feb-2013
The claimant sought an order quashing a search warrant, and for damages. The officer had said that he had evidence that the claimants were storing an distributing from the premises large quantities of counterfeit goods and drugs.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Torts – Other, Northern Ireland

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.162912

NTL Group Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v S Constabulary: Admn 22 Jul 2002

The claimant sought judicial review of the granting of a special protection order with regard to the retention of emails sent by their customers, and for permission to destroy material relating to the application. The result, said the applicant, would overwhelm their storage systems, and to put them in breach of section 1 of the 2000 Act. ‘The question then arises whether the provisions of paragraph 11 of Schedule 1 provide the authority which is required in section 1(5)(c) of the RIP Act for NTL to take the action which that paragraph requires a person upon whom an application under section 9 of PACE to take.’
Held: The request was refused: ‘it is implicit in the terms of paragraph 11 of Schedule 1 of PACE that the body subject to an application under section 9 (here NTL) has the necessary power arising implicitly from the language of paragraph 11 of Schedule 1, read together with section 9, to take the action which they apparently have to take in order to conserve the communications by e-mail within the system until such time as the court decides whether or not to make an order. That being so, that implicit power provides the lawful authority for the purposes of section 1(5) and no offence will therefore be committed if NTL acts in accordance with paragraph 11 of Schedule 1 when served with an application under section 9. ‘
Lord Woolf CJ considered the effect of subsection 2(7) of the 2000 Act: ‘Sub-section (7) has the effect of extending the time of communication until the intended recipient has collected it. It is essential on the evidence in this case that if NTL are to preserve the material, they take action before the intended recipient has collected the e-mail. Sub-section (7) means that we are here concerned with what happens in the course of transmission.’

Judges:

The Lord Woolf of Barnes LCJ, Curtis J

Citations:

[2002] EWHC 1585 (Admin), [2003] QB 131, [2002] 3 WLR 1173

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 1 9

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Edmondson and Others v Regina CACD 28-Jun-2013
Course of Transmission includes Voicemails
The defendants appealed against convictions for conspiracy to intercept telephone voicemail messages whilst employed in various positions in newspapers. The issue boiled down to when the ‘course of transmission’ of a voicemail message ended, that is . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Media

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.539975

The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Khalil: EAT 19 Jul 2001

The Commissioner appealed a refusal of an adjournment of a hearing expected to last many weeks. He said that it was impossible to decide disciplinary proceedings against the complainant at the same time as facing a complaint from him of racial discrimination. He said they would be hampered in approaching witnesses. The EAT considered there had been sufficient opportunity to make progress on the disciplinary proceedings, and the directions were confirmed.
EAT Procedural Issues – Employment Tribunal

Judges:

Mr Commissioner Howell QC

Citations:

EAT/582/01

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police, Employment

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.168274

Barwise, Regina (on the Application Of) v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police: Admn 8 Jul 2004

The applicant sought judicial review of the decision of the respondent to remove his status of police constable. He had been absent from work with stress for a long time. He had failed to attend appointments on police premises.
Held: The claimant could not be treated as having retired in the manner contended for by the defendant. Review granted

Judges:

Mccombe J

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 1876 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Farah v Commissioner of Police for Metropolis CA 9-Oct-1996
Individual officers, but not the police force itself are answerable in a race discrimination claim. The force is not vicariously liable for an individual officer’s acts. . .
Cited – Nichol v Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council CA 1988
Gateshead, confronted by a falling birth rate and therefore an inability to sustain a viable sixth form in all its secondary schools, decided to set up sixth form colleges instead. Local parents had failed to establish that Gateshead’s prior . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 03 June 2022; Ref: scu.199828

G v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police and Another: Admn 21 Dec 2006

The claimant sought judicial review of the defendant’s decision to hold him in custody after interview pending a decision of the CPS as to his charge.
Held: The claim failed.

Citations:

[2006] EWHC 3485 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – G, Regina (on the Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions CA 5-Feb-2008
The claimant had been arrested and interviewed. The custody officer then decided to hold him in custody until he had received a decision from the CPS as to whether to charge him and with what offence. The claimant sought judicial review of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 02 June 2022; Ref: scu.249164

Corkindale v Police Medical Appeal Board and Another: QBD 21 Dec 2006

The claimant a police officer appealed a refusal of the Police Medical Board to find her permanently disabled because though she was found such in her present force, another force might be ready to offer her work.
Held: What counted was the status as against her present employer. The word ‘force’ in the regulation referred to the force in which the officer was employed, not the general police service. There is no national police force.

Judges:

Justice Underhill

Citations:

Times 18-Jan-2007, [2006] EWHC 3362 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Pension Regulations 1987 (SI 1987 No 257) 12A

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Not followed – Regina ex parte Sussex Police Authority v Beck QBD 2006
To be disabled from the police force within the meaning of regulation A12 meant that an individual had to be unable to work in any police force; not just the force she was with when she became disabled. There is no national police force. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 02 June 2022; Ref: scu.247975

Gibbs and others v Rea: PC 29 Jan 1998

(Cayman Islands) The respondent worked for a bank. He disclosed a business interest, but that interest grew in importance to the point where he resigned in circumstances amounting to constructive dismissal. His home and business officers were raided and searched by the police. Nothing incriminating was found. He claimed damages saying the search warrrant had been obtained maliciously.
Held: A new tort of the malicious procurement of search warrant was recognised. The tests were that the respondent had caused warrant to be issued; this had been without proper cause; he had acted with malice; and there had been damage resulting. The prosecutor had been silent when called on to justify the search, and it was proper to allow for that in drawing an inference of malice.

Judges:

Lord Goff of Chieveley, Lord Steyn, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Hutton, Mr. Justice Gault

Citations:

Times 04-Feb-1998, [1998] UKPC 3, [1998] AC 786

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

Commonwealth

Citing:

Cited – Cotton v James 30-Jun-1830
The burden of proof can shift during the course of a trial. Silence in circumstances in which a party would be expected to answer might convert evidence into proof. . .
Cited – Attorney General v Danhai Williams and others PC 12-May-1997
(Jamaica) Customs investigating officers on attended the appellant’s premises in the course of an investigation of fraudulent importation. The officers were met by a hostile crowd, and the claimant did not attend for interview as invited. A search . .
Cited – Arbrath v North Eastern Railway Co 1886
The burden of proof of a matter can shift during the course of a trial. . .
Cited – Maass v Gas Light and Coke Co CA 1911
Interrogatories to the defendant asking what grounds he had for prosecuting will, as a rule, be refused. . .
Cited – Regina v Inland Revenue Commissioners ex parte Rossminster Ltd HL 13-Dec-1979
The House considered the power of an officer of the Board of Inland Revenue to seize and remove materials found on premises which a warrant obtained on application to the Common Serjeant authorised him to enter and search; but where the source of . .
Cited – Elsee v Smith 1822
The court considered a claim that a search warrant had been issued for malice. . .
Cited – Brown v Hawkes CA 1891
The court considered the issue of malice as an element of malicious prosecution. It is a matter to be proved by the plaintiff or the case may be withdrawn, but in a proper case it may be inferred from want of reasonable and probable cause although . .
Cited – Glinski v McIver HL 1962
The court considered the tort of malicious prosecution when committed by a police officer, saying ‘But these cases must be carefully watched so as to see that there really is some evidence from his conduct that he knew it was a groundless charge.’ . .
Cited – Rhesa Shipping Co SA v Edmonds (The Popi M) HL 16-May-1985
The Popi M sank in calm seas and fair weather as a result of a large and sudden entry of water into her engine room through her shell plating. The vessel’s owners claimed against her hull and machinery underwriters, contending that the loss was . .
Cited – Hope v Evered 1886
It is an actionable wrong to procure the issue of a search warrant without reasonable cause and with malice. . .
Cited – Hicks v Faulkner 1878
Before charging a prisoner, a police officer must have ‘an honest belief in the guilt of the accused based upon a full conviction, founded upon reasonable grounds, of the existence of a state of circumstances, which, assuming them to be true, would . .
Cited – Herniman v Smith HL 1938
The court considered the tort of malicious prosecution.
Held: It is the duty of a prosecutor to find out not whether there is a possible defence, but whether there is a reasonable and probable cause for prosecution. The House approved the . .
Cited – Everett v Ribbands 1952
The court considered the tort of the malicious obtaining of a search warrant. . .
Cited – Roy v Prior HL 1970
The court considered an alleged tort of maliciously procuring an arrest. The plaintiff had been arrested under a bench warrant issued as a result of evidence given by the defendant. He sued the defendant for damages for malicious arrest.
Held: . .
Cited – Reynolds v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis 1985
A search warrant had been obtained under the 1913 Act. The court considered the existence of a tort of obtaining a search warrant maliciously.
Waller LJ discussed the problem facing police officers when a large volume of material were to be . .
Cited – Tan Soon Yin v Judge Cameron and Another PC 1992
The power at common law to impose a stay on a criminal matter is discretionary, and a stay ‘should only be employed in exceptional circumstances’.
The task for the courts is to decide: ‘whether, in all the circumstances, the situation created . .
Cited – Regina v Inland Revenue Commissioners, Ex parte T C Coombs and Co CA 1989
Lord Tenterden CJ said: ‘It has been carried further in the argument to-day, for it has been urged that the non-appearance of the prosecutor does not necessarily induce the conclusion of a consciousness at that time, that when the prosecution was . .
Cited – Quartz Hill Consolidated Gold Mining Co v Eyre CA 26-Jun-1883
The court considered whether an action lay without proof of special damage for maliciously presenting a winding up petition.
Held: There was. Though there was no general cause of action for maliciously bringing civil proceedings without . .
Cited – Meering v Grahame-White Aviation Co Ltd CA 1919
An unconscious or drugged person may be detained. For the tort of false imprisonment there must be shown a complete restriction in fact on the plaintiff’s freedom to move: ‘any restraint within defined bounds which is a restraint in fact may be an . .

Cited by:

Cited – Keegan and Others v Chief Constable of Merseyside CA 3-Jul-2003
The police had information suggesting (wrongly) that a fugitive resided at an address. An armed raid followed, and the claimant occupant sought damages.
Held: The tort of malicious procurement of a search warrant required it to be established . .
Cited – Raja v Van Hoogstraten ChD 19-Dec-2005
Damages were claimed after claimant alleged involvement by the defendant in the murder of the deceased. The defendant had been tried and acquitted of murder and manslaughter, but the allegation was now pursued. The defendant had since failed to . .
Cited – Gregory v Portsmouth City Council HL 10-Feb-2000
Disciplinary proceedings had been taken by the local authority against Mr Gregory, a council member, after allegations had been made that he had failed to declare conflicts of interest, and that he had used confidential information to secure a . .
Cited – Fitzpatrick and Others v The Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis QBD 11-Jan-2012
The claimants, two solicitors and their employer firm sought damages alleging trespass and malicious procurement by police officers in obtaining and executing search warrants against the firm in 2007 when they were investigating suspected offences . .
Cited – Crawford Adjusters and Others v Sagicor General Insurance (Cayman) Ltd and Another PC 13-Jun-2013
(Cayman Islands) A hurricane had damaged property insured by the respondent company. The company employed the appellant as loss adjustor, but came to suspect advance payments recommended by him, and eventually claimed damages for deceit and . .
Cited – Crawford v Jenkins CA 24-Jul-2014
The parties had divorced but acrimony continued. H now complained of his arrests after allegations from his former wife that he had breached two orders. He had been released and no charges followed. The court had ruled that W’s complaints were . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Commonwealth, Police

Updated: 01 June 2022; Ref: scu.159283

Waters v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis: HL 27 Jul 2000

A policewoman, having made a complaint of serious sexual assault against a fellow officer complained again that the Commissioner had failed to protect her against retaliatory assaults. Her claim was struck out, but restored on appeal.
Held: Her claim was arguable. It was possible that the Commissioner owed to her a similar duty as would any other employer by virtue of the section. The protection given to the police against owing a duty of care did not apply here. She was not suing as a member of the public. ‘it is clear, or at the least arguable, that duties analogous to those owed to an employee are owed to officers in the police service’. And ‘If an employer knows that acts being done by employees during their employment may cause physical or mental harm to a particular fellow employee and he does nothing to supervise or prevent such acts, when it is in his power to do so, it is clearly arguable that he may be in breach of his duty to that employee. It seems to me that he may also be in breach of that duty if he can foresee that such acts may happen and, if they do, that physical or mental harm may be caused to an individual.’

Judges:

Lord Slynn of Hadley Lord Jauncey of Tullichettle Lord Clyde Lord Hutton Lord Millett

Citations:

Times 01-Aug-2000, Gazette 12-Oct-2000, [2000] 1 WLR 1607, [2000] UKHL 50, [2000] IRLR 720

Links:

House of Lords, Bailii

Statutes:

Police Act 1996 88(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

At EAT – Waters v Commissioner of Police of Metropolis EAT 17-Nov-1994
. .
Appeal from – Waters v Commissioner of Police for Metropolis CA 3-Jul-1997
. .
Cited – Knightley v Johns and others CA 27-Mar-1981
There had been an accident in a tunnel, blocking it. The defendant inspector ordered a traffic constable to ride into the tunnel on his motorcycle against the flow of traffic. The constable crashed and sought damages for negligence against the . .
Cited – White, Frost and others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire and others HL 3-Dec-1998
No damages for Psychiatric Harm Alone
The House considered claims by police officers who had suffered psychiatric injury after tending the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy.
Held: The general rules restricting the recovery of damages for pure psychiatric harm applied to the . .
Cited – Chief Constable of Northumbria v Costello CA 3-Dec-1998
A woman police officer was attacked by a prisoner in a cell. She sought damages for the failure of a senior officer nearby not to come to her aid, and from the chief constable under his vicarious liability.
Held: The chief constable’s appeal . .
Cited – Veness v Dyson Bell and Co 25-May-1965
The claimant sought damages against her employer saying they had failed to meet their duty of care to prevent bullying.
Held: The court refused to strike out the claim that ‘[the plaintiff] was so bullied and belittled by her colleagues that . .
Cited – Elguzouli-Daf v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and Another CA 16-Nov-1994
The Court upheld decisions striking out actions for negligence brought by claimants who had been arrested and held in custody during criminal investigations which were later discontinued. The Crown Prosecution Service owes no general duty of care to . .
Cited – Spring v Guardian Assurance Plc and Others HL 7-Jul-1994
The plaintiff, who worked in financial services, complained of the terms of the reference given by his former employer. Having spoken of his behaviour towards members of the team, it went on: ‘his former superior has further stated he is a man of . .
Cited – Petch v Customs and Excise Commissioners CA 29-Mar-1993
A former employer has no duty of care regarding the accuracy of information provided to the trustees of a pension fund regarding the work record of that employee. . .
Cited – Caparo Industries Plc v Dickman and others HL 8-Feb-1990
Limitation of Loss from Negligent Mis-statement
The plaintiffs sought damages from accountants for negligence. They had acquired shares in a target company and, relying upon the published and audited accounts which overstated the company’s earnings, they purchased further shares.
Held: The . .
Cited – Wigan Borough Council v Davies EAT 1979
The court considered that an employer owed a duty of care and under the contract of employment to employees to protect them against ill treatment or bullying. The plaintiff sued for breach of contract.
Arnold J said: ‘We do not think that it is . .
Cited – Wetherall (Bond Street W1) Ltd v Lynn 1978
The court considered a claim of constructive dismissal against a claim by an employee that the employer had failed to meet its duty of care to protect an employee against bullying or ill treatment by other members of staff. If the respondent had not . .

Cited by:

Cited – Mullaney v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police CA 15-May-2001
The claimant police officer was severely injured making an arrest. He claimed damages from the respondent for contributory negligence of other officers in failing to come to his assistance.
Held: If a police officer owes a duty of care to . .
Cited – Banks v Ablex Ltd CA 24-Feb-2005
The claimant appealed denial of her claim for damages for psychological injury. She complained that her employer had failed to prevent her and other female employees being bullied by a co-worker, and they committed a breach of statutory duty in . .
Cited – JD v East Berkshire Community Health NHS Trust and others HL 21-Apr-2005
Parents of children had falsely and negligently been accused of abusing their children. The children sought damages for negligence against the doctors or social workers who had made the statements supporting the actions taken. The House was asked if . .
Cited – Brooks v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and others HL 21-Apr-2005
The claimant was with Stephen Lawrence when they were both attacked and Mr Lawrence killed. He claimed damages for the negligent way the police had dealt with his case, and particularly said that they had failed to assess him as a victim of crime, . .
Cited – French and others v Chief Constable of Sussex Police CA 28-Mar-2006
The claimants sought damages for psychiatric injury. They were police officers who had been subject to unsuccessful proceedings following a shooting of a member of the public by their force.
Held: The claim failed: ‘these claimants have no . .
Cited – Majrowski v Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust CA 16-Mar-2005
The claimant had sought damages against his employer, saying that they had failed in their duty to him under the 1997 Act in failing to prevent harassment by a manager. He appealed a strike out of his claim.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The . .
Cited – Clark v The Chief Constable of Essex Police QBD 18-Sep-2006
The officer had retired on ill health grounds, and now sought damages from his chief constable saying that the duties imposed on him had been excessive, and had caused his injury by negligence, and that he had been bullied by co-workers and had not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Discrimination, Vicarious Liability, Police, Negligence

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.159084

Fellowes or Herd v Clyde Helicopters Ltd: HL 27 Feb 1997

A Police officer being carried in a force helicopter, and operating within his own force’s area was not on a matter of international carriage, and was not subject to the restrictions on recovery of damages. The helicopter had crashed into a building and he lost his life.
Lord Hope considered the Convention noting the width of article 1(1) which applies ‘to all international carriage of persons, baggage or cargo performed by aircraft for reward’, and said: ‘But the starting point is the generality of effect indicated by the use of the word ‘all’. The nationality or place of business of the carrier is irrelevant, as all carriers who undertake international carriage, as defined in article 1(2), of passengers, baggage or cargo by the aircraft are bound by the Convention. There is nothing in the Convention to indicate that the purpose for which the passenger, baggage or cargo was on the aircraft has any bearing on the question whether the Convention applies.
In my opinion the Convention agreed at Warsaw, as amended at the Hague, was intended to be, and is, capable of accommodating changes in the practice of airlines and aircraft operators with regard to the purposes for which aircraft are used to carry people and goods, and in the contractual arrangements in pursuance of which people and goods are carried by air for reward.’

Judges:

Lord MacKay, Lord Chancellor Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead Lord Clyde

Citations:

Gazette 26-Mar-1997, Times 07-Mar-1997, [1997] 1 All ER 775, [1997] UKHL 6, [1997] AC 534

Links:

House of Lords, Bailii

Statutes:

Carriage by Air (Application of Provisions) Order 1967 (1967 No 480)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Laroche v Spirit of Adventure (UK) Ltd CA 21-Jan-2009
Hot Air balloon was an aircraft: damages limited
The claimant was injured flying in the defendant’s hot air balloon. The defendant said that the journey was covered by the 1967 Regulations and the damages limited accordingly. The claimant appealed against a decision that the balloon was an . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Transport, Police, Damages, Personal Injury

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.158881

Keyse v Commissioner of the Police for the Metropolis, Scutts: CA 18 May 2001

The court considered liability where a police car on emergency duty hit Mr Scutts causing very serious injuries. The officer appealed against a finding of liability saying that the judge had declared irrelevant the fact he was on an emergency response.
Held: The officer’s appeal was allowed: ‘even in an emergency, a driver is required to drive reasonably carefully in all the circumstances. One significant feature of such cases where the vehicle in question is deployed by one of the emergency services, is that the driver is normally entitled to assume that other road users will not ignore the unmistakable evidence of its approach, and where appropriate, temporarily at any rate, will use the road accordingly. Pedestrians can usually be expected to follow the relevant advice in the Highway Code . . although drivers should allow for the unexpected when they are at the wheel of a car, it would inhibit the valuable work done for the community as a whole, if drivers in the emergency services were not allowed to drive their vehicles on the basis that pedestrians would recognise their warning lights and sirens and give them proper priority by keeping out of their paths.’

Judges:

Judge LJ, Latham LJ, Lloyd LJ

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 715

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Marshall v Osmond CA 1983
The plaintiff was passenger in a stolen car seeking to escape the police as they chased. The car was stopped, the plaintiff got out of the car, and was hit by a police car. He sought damages.
Held: His appeal against dismissal of his claim was . .
Outdated – Gaynor v Allen 1959
McNair J considered that when looking at the driving of a police officer, the standard remained that of the experienced skilled and careful driver. McNair considered a submission: ‘that if the motor-cyclist had been a civilian he would undoubtedly . .

Cited by:

Cited – Armsden v Kent Police CA 26-Jun-2009
The claimants sought damages as personal representatives after the deceased died when her car was hit by a police car responding to an emergency call. The defendant appealed a finding of negligence.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The judge had . .
Cited – An Informer v A Chief Constable CA 29-Feb-2012
The claimant appealed against dismissal of his claim for damages against the police. He had provided them with information, but he said that they had acted negligently and in breach of contract causing him financial loss. The officer handling his . .
Cited – Smith v Nottinghamshire Police CA 23-Feb-2012
The claimant had been very severely injured when hit by a police car on an emergency call. She appealed against a finding that she was 75% to blame. The defendant argued that he was not liable at all.
Held:
Ward LJ discussed the Keyse . .
Cited – Macleod (By His Deputy and Litigation Friend, Macleod) v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis QBD 3-Apr-2014
The claimant sought damages after being severely injured when knocked from his cycle by police officers in a car attending an emergency, and driving over the speed limit.
Held: The claim succeeded, and there had been no contributory negligence . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Road Traffic, Personal Injury, Police

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147553

Regina v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, ex parte Carol Ann Bennion: CA 4 May 2001

The claimant sought a judicial review against a Chief Constable against whose force she had made complaints of sex discrimination and victimisation, not to remit disciplinary proceedings against her under regulation 14 of the 1985 Regulations to another Chief Constable. Her complaint was that, in making that decision, he had not acted judicially.
Held: The fact that a Chief Constable had been named as a defendant in proceedings brought by a constable, did not disqualify him from exercising his statutory duties as chief constable to hear disciplinary proceedings against the same constable. The regulations imposed an unequivocal duty on him to hear the complaint, and his general and continuing duties for the maintenance of discipline put him in a different position to that of a judge hearing a case.

Citations:

Times 12-Jun-2001, Gazette 21-Jun-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 638, [2001] IRLR 442

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police (Discipline) Regulations 1985 (1985 No 518) 13.1

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Regina v Chief Constable of Merseyside, Ex Parte Bennion QBD 18-Jul-2000
A senior officer had begun a claim against the police officer alleging sex discrimination. She complained that when disciplinary proceedings were commenced against her, the person making the decision would be the Chief Constable, and that his . .

Cited by:

Cited – Heath v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis CA 20-Jul-2004
The female civilian officer alleged sex discrimination against her by a police officer. Her complaint was heard at an internal disciplinary. She alleged sexual harrassment, and was further humiliated by the all male board’s treatment of her . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Employment, Police

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147533

Costello v Chief Constable of Derbyshire Constabulary: CA 22 Mar 2001

The police seized a car from Mr Costello, believing that it was stolen. The seizure was lawful at the time, by virtue of section 19 of PACE. The police never brought any criminal proceedings against Mr Costello, but they refused to return the car to him, arguing that it had been stolen and that that justified them in retaining it. Mr Costello sued in the County Court for recovery of the car. At first instance the claim failed, but the decision was reversed on appeal.
Held: sections 19 and 22 of PACE vested in the police ‘no title to the property seized but only a temporary right to retain property for the specified statutory purposes’. Once those purposes were exhausted (as it was common ground they had been), Mr Costello, whether he was the true owner of the car or not, had a right of possession of it which was superior to any right of possession on the part of the police.

Judges:

Robert Walker, Keene LJJ, Lightman J

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 381, [2001] 1 WLR 1437, [2001] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 216, [2001] 3 All ER 150

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 19 22

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Followed – Webb v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police CA 26-Nov-1999
The Police had confiscated money suspected to be the proceeds of drug trafficking, but no offence was proved. The magistrates had refused to return the money under the 1897 Act. The claimants now sought to reciver it under civil proceedings.
Cited – Malone v Commissioner of the Police for the Metropolis (No 2) ChD 28-Feb-1979
The court considered the lawfulness of telephone tapping. The issue arose following a trial in which the prosecution had admitted the interception of the plaintiff’s telephone conversations under a warrant issued by the Secretary of State. The . .
Cited – Tinsley v Milligan HL 28-Jun-1993
Two women parties used funds generated by a joint business venture to buy a house in which they lived together. It was vested in the sole name of the plaintiff but on the understanding that they were joint beneficial owners. The purpose of the . .
Cited – Curtis v Perry 10-Mar-1802
Fraudulent Registrations Ineffective
Ships had been purchased by a partnership, but were then held separately in the name of one of them. Only later were they included within the partnership accounts, but the separate registrations were maintained, and unlawfully so as to avoid them . .
Cited – Bowmakers Ltd v Barnet Instruments Ltd CA 1945
An action was brought for the wrongful conversion of machine tools delivered under hire purchase agreements which contravened wartime statutory orders. The plaintiff established its legal title to the goods at issue without relying upon the illegal . .
Cited – Buckley v Gross 1863
The court had to decide the ownership of of tallow which had been kept at warehouses. In a fire; it melted and flowed down the sewers into the river where part of it was collected by a man with no right to it; and he sold it to the claimant. The . .
Cited – Field v Sullivan 1923
(Supreme Court of Victoria) The claimant claimed return of goods seized by the police believing them to be stolen. The theft was not established and the claimant as the party in possession at the time of the seizure was held entitled to their . .
Cited – Solomon v Metropolitan Police Commissioner 1982
Public policy and the doctrine of ‘ex turpi culpa non oritur actio’ preclude a thief from recovery of items from the police. . .
Cited – Irving v National Provincial Bank CA 1962
Goods were seized by the police from the claimant. Neither the claimant nor the defendant could establish that they were the true owners. Under section 1 the first court directed the goods to be delivered to the defendant as the person who appeared . .
Cited – Parker v BA Board 1982
The rights and obligations of a finder were considered. The court explained the balancing exercise required of the law when deciding to whom property should be returned and how the balance should be struck: ‘The rule as stated by Pratt CJ must be . .
Cited – Rowland v Divall CA 1923
A car dealer had bought a car to which the seller had no title.
Held: The dealer succeeded in his claim to recover the purchase price on the ground of total failure of consideration. The vendor had gone through the motions of performance of . .
Cited – Betts v Receiver of Metropolitan Police District and Carter Paterson and Co Ltd 1932
The police seized from the claimant certain cloth believing it to be stolen from Carter Paterson and delivered it to Carter Paterson, without any order under the 1897 Act. The claimant sued the receiver and Carter Paterson.
Held: Since the . .

Cited by:

Cited – Morgan, Regina (on the Application of) v Justices of Dyfed Powys Magistrates’ Court Admn 18-Jun-2003
Money had been taken by the Police, but after the applicants had been acquitted, they sought it to be returned. Their action was struck out after long delays. They applied to the Magistrates who turned down the application.
Held: The money . .
Cited – Gough and Another v The Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police CA 2-Mar-2004
The claimants sought return of vehicle parts from the police. The police replied that the goods had been tampered with in such a way as to suggest they may have been stolen, and that they were therefore kept, even after the finish of the court . .
Cited – Scopelight Ltd and Others v Chief of Police for Northumbria CA 5-Nov-2009
The claimant sought return of items removed by the defendants under the 1984 Act. A decision had been made against a prosecution by the police. The police wished to hold onto the items to allow a decision from the second defendant.
Held: The . .
Cited – Merseyside Police v Owens Admn 31-May-2012
The police had refused to returns items seized from Mr Owens on the basis that to do so would indirectly encourage and assist him in suspected criminal activity. CCTV footage had been removed from him to attempt identify an arsonist of a house.The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147481

Regina v The Chief Constable of the Northumbria Constabulary ex parte Thompson: CA 8 Mar 2001

A police officer had been dismissed but was pursuing an action against the authority. At the same time he obtained work as a probationary solicitor’s clerk doing police station work. The Chief Constable issued an order that he should not, under PACE be admitted to any police station.
Held: The order was unlawful, since it prevented the necessary exercise of a lawful discretion by individual officers. The circumstances might suggest that general advice be given about his character, and it would be surprising if any police officer would admit him.

Citations:

Times 20-Mar-2001, Gazette 20-Apr-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 321

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police, Administrative, Legal Professions

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147460

L (Minor), P (Father) v Reading Borough Council Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police: CA 12 Mar 2001

A social worker and police officer interviewed a child and father on allegations of sexual abuse made by the mother. No criminal proceedings followed, but the father alleged that the misrepresentation of the interviews by the officer and social worker led to later care proceedings. The allegations were false. The court allowed an appeal against an order striking out the case against the police officer. Having interviewed the father, and it having been decided that no criminal proceedings would follow, a duty of care had arisen as between the officer and the interviewee as to the future use of the material from the interview. The case against the police should not be struck out on the basis of a witness immunity in these circumstances.

Citations:

Gazette 03-May-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 346, [2001] 1 WLR 1575

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – JD v East Berkshire Community Health NHS Trust and others HL 21-Apr-2005
Parents of children had falsely and negligently been accused of abusing their children. The children sought damages for negligence against the doctors or social workers who had made the statements supporting the actions taken. The House was asked if . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Professional Negligence, Police, Litigation Practice

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147466

Sinclair v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire and British Telecommunications Plc: CA 12 Dec 2000

The claimant had been prosecuted, but the charge was dismissed as an abuse of process. He now appealed a strike out of his civil claim for damages for malicious prosecution.
Held: The appeal failed. The decision to dismiss the criminal charge against him was surprising in the circumstances.

Judges:

Otton, Jonathan Parker LJJ

Citations:

[2000] EWCA Civ 319

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Martin v Watson HL 13-Jul-1995
The plaintiff had been falsely reported to the police by the defendant, a neighbour, for indecent exposure whilst standing on a ladder in his garden. He had been arrested and charged, but at a hearing before the Magistrates’ Court, the Crown . .
Cited – Williams v Taylor 1829
No action will lie for the institution of legal proceedings, however malicious, unless they have been instituted without reasonable and probable cause. Tindal CJ said: ‘Malice alone is not sufficient, because a person actuated by the plainest malice . .
Cited – Lister v Perryman HL 1870
In a case alleging malicious prosecution, the existence of reasonable and probable cause is a question for the judge and not for the jury.
Lord Chelmsford said: ‘[T]here can be no doubt since the case of Panton v Williams, in which the question . .
Cited – Arbroath v North Eastern Railway 1883
In a case alleging malicious prosecution, the burden of proving absence of reasonable and probable cause is on the Plaintiff, who thus takes on the notoriously difficult task of proving a negative . .
Cited – Tempest v Snowden 1952
Decision too charge – whether was warranted
A custody officer is not required to be sure that the accused person is guilty before charging him, but rather he should believe that a charge is warranted . .
Cited – Glinski v McIver HL 1962
The court considered the tort of malicious prosecution when committed by a police officer, saying ‘But these cases must be carefully watched so as to see that there really is some evidence from his conduct that he knew it was a groundless charge.’ . .
Cited – Brown v Hawkes CA 1891
The court considered the issue of malice as an element of malicious prosecution. It is a matter to be proved by the plaintiff or the case may be withdrawn, but in a proper case it may be inferred from want of reasonable and probable cause although . .

Cited by:

Cited – A v West Yorkshire Police HL 6-May-2004
The claimant was a male to female trans-sexual who had been refused employment as a police officer by the respondent, who had said that the staturory requirement for males to search males and for females to search females would be impossible to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Police

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147352

Regina v Sussex Police Authority ex parte Stewart: CA 4 Apr 2000

A police constable had been injured. She regained some health but sought to retire on health grounds. It was held that her continuing disability would limit her to desk-bound duties. These were insufficient to constitute the full range of operational duties expected of a member of the force. It was wrong to require her to return.

Citations:

Times 13-Apr-2000, Gazette 05-May-2000, [2000] EWCA Civ 101

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Police Pensions Regulations 1987 A12(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147134

Chief Constable of Kent v Rixon, Rixon (Suing As Rixons Solicitors) and Wilson: CA 5 Apr 2000

A detainee has a right to see a solicitor whilst under arrest at a police station. That founds no separate right of any solicitor to enter the cells area, and there could be no cause of action arguable that a solicitor might sue for damages for being excluded. The right belonged to the client, and any interference in it lay at his door to seek compensation.

Citations:

Times 11-Apr-2000, [2000] EWCA Civ 104

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police, Legal Professions

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147137

Bibby v Chief Constable of Essex Police: CA 6 Apr 2000

A bailiff sought to execute against goods in a shop against the will of the occupier. The police attended and when tempers were raised the police officer anticipated a breach of the peace by the bailiff and arrested him. He sought damages for that arrest.
Held: In order for a citizen properly to exercise a common law power of arrest over a person not at the time acting unlawfully, he must show that there was a real and immediate threat of breach of the peace which emanated from the person to be arrested, that he was interfering in others exercising their lawful rights, that its natural consequence must be ‘not wholly unreasonable violence’ from another, and the conduct of the person to be arrested must be unreasonable. The officer in this case had misconstrued the law and not properly assessed where the threat of violence was coming from, which was the debtor.
Schiemann LJ said: ‘Counsel for the claimant submitted the case law justified the following. In order to exercise the now exceptional common law power of arrest, certain conditions must be met in relation to the person who is to be arrested and his conduct:
(1) There must be the clearest of circumstances and a sufficiently real and present threat to the peace to justify the extreme step of depriving of his liberty a citizen who is not at the time acting unlawfully — Foulkes.
(2) The threat must be coming from the person who is to be arrested — Redmond-Bate.
(3) The conduct must clearly interfere with the rights of others — Redmond-Bate.
(4) The natural consequence of the conduct must be violence from a third party — Redmond-Bate.
(5) The violence in (4) must not be wholly unreasonable — Redmond-Bate.
(6) The conduct of the person to be arrested must be unreasonable — Nicol.
I consider that this accurately states the law. Of course I accept that it is desirable that violence be prevented. It is also desirable that citizens neither doing nor threatening any wrong are not deprived of their liberty.’

Judges:

Morritt, Pill, Schiemann LJJ

Citations:

Times 24-Apr-2000, [2000] EWCA Civ 113, (2000) 164 JP 297

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Howell (Errol) CACD 1981
The court considered the meaning of the legal concept of a breach of the peace.
Held: The essence is to be found in violence or threatened violence. ‘We entertain no doubt that a constable has a power of arrest where there is reasonable . .
Cited – Redmond-Bate v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 23-Jul-1999
The police had arrested three peaceful but vociferous preachers when some members of a crowd gathered round them threatened hostility.
Held: Freedom of speech means nothing unless it includes the freedom to be irritating, contentious, . .
Cited – Foulkes v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police CA 9-Jun-1998
A man was locked out of the matrimonial home which he owned jointly with his wife, following a family dispute. The police told him, as was the fact, that his wife and children did not want him to re-enter the house and the police suggested that he . .
Cited – Regina v Nicol and Selvanayagam QBD 10-Nov-1995
The appellants appealed a bind-over for a finding that each appellant had been guilty of conduct whereby a breach of the peace was likely to be occasioned. The appellants, concerned about cruelty to animals, had obstructed an angling competition by . .

Cited by:

Cited – Blench v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 5-Nov-2004
The defendant appealed against his conviction for assaulting a police officer in the execution of his duty under section 89. He had argued that he had no case to answer. The officers had received an emergency call to the house, but the female caller . .
Cited – Hammond v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 13-Jan-2004
The defendant, who had since died, had been convicted of a public order offence in that standing in a street he had displayed a range of placards opposing homosexuality. He appealed saying that the finding was an unwarranted infringement of his . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Torts – Other

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147146

Christopher John Gloster v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police: CA 24 Mar 2000

The plaintiff was a police officer. While carrying out his duties he was bitten by a police dog, an Alsatian, which had been trained to be aggressive when working. The claim failed, largely on the ground that on the particular facts the damage was not caused by the relevant characteristic of the dog.

Judges:

Pill and Hale LJJ

Citations:

(2000) 9 PIQR P114, [2000] EWCA Civ 90

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Preferred – Breeden v Lampard CA 21-Mar-1985
A riding accident occurred at a cubbing meet. The plaintiff’s leg was injured when the defendant’s horse kicked out. A claim was advanced under section 2. This horse, like any horse, was liable to kick out when approached too closely, or too . .

Cited by:

Distinguished – Mirvahedy v Henley and Henley CA 21-Nov-2001
Horses with no abnormal characteristics were panicked, ran out and collided with a car. The car driver sought damages.
Held: The question was not whether the animals betrayed abnormal characteristics of which the owners should have been aware, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Animals

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147123

Kuddus v Chief Constable of Leicestershire: CA 10 Feb 2000

Misfeasance in public office was not a tort in which exemplary damages would be available before 1964, and, following the restriction on such awards in Rookes v Barnard was not now a tort for which such damages night be payable. Kindred torts, which might normally accompany such a claim against the police, might give rise to such a claim however.

Citations:

Times 16-Mar-2000, [2000] EWCA Civ 39

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Rookes v Barnard (No 1) HL 21-Jan-1964
The court set down the conditions for the award of exemplary damages. There are two categories. The first is where there has been oppressive or arbitrary conduct by a defendant. Cases in the second category are those in which the defendant’s conduct . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Kuddus v Chief Constable of Leicestershire Constabulary HL 7-Jun-2001
There is no rule of law preventing the award of exemplary damages against police officers. The fact that no case of misfeasance in public office had led to such awards before 1964, did not prevent such an award now. Although damages are generally . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Torts – Other, Police

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147072

Regina v Chief Constable of British Transport Police ex parte William Farmer: CA 30 Jul 1999

The probationer constable had assisted another probationer to cheat at his examinations. He appealed his dismissal.

Judges:

Henry LJ, Potter LJ, Mummery LJ

Citations:

[1999] EWCA Civ 2051

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Kay, Regina (on The Application of) v Chief Constable of Northumbria Police Admn 18-Jan-2010
Having succeeded in her claim as to the lawfulness of the decision of the defendant to end her appointment as a probationary constable, the claimant now sought an order mandating her continued employment by the defendant. She had been acquitted of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.146966

Woolgar v Chief Constable of Sussex Police and UKCC: CA 26 May 1999

The issue was the potential disclosure by the police to the nurses’ regulatory body of confidential information concerning the plaintiff, the matron of a nursing home. There had been insufficient evidence to charge the plaintiff with a criminal offence. The regulatory body wished to consider disciplinary proceedings. The plaintiff unsuccessfully sought an injunction to restrain the disclosure.
Held: A countervailing public interest prevailed. The police investigating serious allegations were entitled to reveal the results to a professional regulatory body supervising the suspect. Such information is received by the police in confidence, and remains subject to the same limitations. However: ‘In order to safeguard the interests of the individual, it is . . desirable that, where the police are minded to disclose, they should, as in this case, inform the person affected of what they propose to do in such time as to enable that person, if so advised, to seek assistance from the court. In some cases, that may not be practicable or desirable, but in most cases that seems to . . be the course that should be followed.’ and ‘In my view, the guiding principles from the exercise of the power to disclose . . are those ennunciated in ex parte Thorpe. Each of the Respondent authorities had to consider the case on its own facts. A blanket approach was impermissible. Having regard to the sensitivity of the issues raised by the allegations of sexual impropriety made against LM, disclosure should only be made if there is a ‘pressing need’. Disclosure should be the exception and not the rule. That is because the consequences of disclosure of such information for the subject of the allegations can be very damaging indeed. The facts of this case show that disclosure can lead to loss of employment and social ostracism, if not worse. Disclosure should, therefore, only be made if there is a pressing need for it.’

Judges:

Kennedy, Otton, Waller LjJ

Citations:

Times 28-May-1999, Gazette 09-Jun-1999, [1999] EWCA Civ 1497, [2000] 1 WLR 25, [1999] 3 All ER 604, [1999] Lloyds Rep Med 335, (2000) 2 LGLR 340, (1999) 50 BMLR 296

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Applied – Frankson and Others v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Johns v Same CA 8-May-2003
The claimants sought damages for injuries alleged to have been received at the hands of prison officers whilst in prison. They now sought disclosure by the police of statements made to the police during the course of their investigation.
Held: . .
Cited – Kent Pharmaceuticals Ltd, (Regina on the Application of ) v Serious Fraud Office and Another Admn 17-Dec-2003
The claimant sought judicial review of the decision of the respondent to disclose documents obtained by it from them during an investigation.
Held: The decisions to disclose material to the DoH were ‘in accordance with law’ within the meaning . .
Cited – Regina (Kent Pharmaceuticals Ltd) v Serious Fraud Office CA 11-Nov-2004
In 2002 the SFO was investigating allegations that drug companies were selling generic drugs, including penicillin-based antibiotics and warfarin, to the National Health Service at artificially sustained prices. To further the investigation the SFO . .
Cited – Flood v Times Newspapers Ltd and others QBD 5-Mar-2009
The claimant police officer complained of an alleged defamation in an article published by the defendant. The defendant wished to obtain information from the IPCC to show that they were investigating the matter as a credible issue. The court . .
Cited – A, Regina (on The Application of) v B Admn 21-Jul-2010
The police intended to disclose the claimant’s sexual history to possible sexual partners, saying that his behaviour was putting them at risk of infection. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Intellectual Property, Police

Updated: 30 May 2022; Ref: scu.146412

Re N: CA 20 May 1999

The claimant was a victim of a rape. She alleged that the police had mishandled the prosecution, resulting in the dismissal of the charges against the defendant, which in turn, she said exacerbated her own post traumatic stress disorder.
Held: ‘In my judgment an attempt to formulate a duty of care in this way is wholly misconceived. If a duty of care exists at all it is a duty to take reasonable care to prevent the Plaintiff from suffering injury, loss or damage of the type in question, in this case psychiatric injury. ‘ Clarke LJ: It was at least arguable that where a forensic medical examiner carries out an examination and discovers that the person being examined has a serious condition which needs immediate treatment, a duty is owed to the examinee to disclose those facts.

Citations:

[1999] EWCA Civ 1452, [1999] Lloyd’s Rep Med 257

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Galbraith CCA 1981
Rejection of Submission of No Case to Answer
The defendant had faced a charge of affray. The court having rejected his submission of having no case to answer, he had made an exculpatory statement from the dock. He appealed against his conviction.
Held: Lord Lane LCJ said: ‘How then . .
Cited – Couling v Coxe 7-Dec-1848
A plaintiff in a civil action who has issued a witness summons or subpoena to a witness to attend may have an action against a witness who fails to attend, but the damages recoverable were limited to the costs of an abortive hearing when the . .
Cited – Crewe v Field 1896
Claim for damages against witness not attending court.
Held: A plaintiff in such a case could recover as damages the loss which the missing witness could have established. . .
Cited – Roberts v J and F Stone Lighting and Radio Ltd 1945
Claim for damages against witness who fails to attend court though summonsed when the case was lost.
Held: the reason why no such claim had in fact succeeded was because of the difficulty in establishing the loss. . .

Cited by:

Cited – JD v East Berkshire Community Health NHS Trust and others HL 21-Apr-2005
Parents of children had falsely and negligently been accused of abusing their children. The children sought damages for negligence against the doctors or social workers who had made the statements supporting the actions taken. The House was asked if . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Police, Negligence

Updated: 30 May 2022; Ref: scu.146367

Clark v Chief Constable of Cleveland Police: CA 7 May 1999

It was appropriate for courts in all cases to give juries both general guidance on awarding damages and guidance as to the range of awards available in the circumstances. The court aslo set out the proper approach to the award of aggravated damages and exemplary damages against police. The figures the court set out were applicable to what it termed ‘a straightforward case’, and they were not to be used in a ‘mechanistic manner’. Where the defendant is the employer of the police officers involved, exemplary damages are unlikely to have a role, and aggravated damages should be awarded if the aggravating features would result in the claimant not receiving sufficient compensation for his injury. The bad character of the claimant was a factor which made for a ‘discount’ on the damages.

Citations:

[1999] EWCA Civ 1357

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Thompson v Commissioner of Police of Metropolis; Hsu v Same CA 20-Feb-1997
CS Damages of 200,000 pounds by way of exemplary damages had been awarded against the police for unlawful arrest and assault.
Held: The court gave a guideline maximum pounds 50,000 award against police for . .

Cited by:

Cited – Manley v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis CA 28-Jun-2006
The claimant succeeded in his action against the respondent for assault, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. He appealed his award of damages for malicious prosecution. He had a bad record, and the essential issue was the extent to which . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Damages, Police, Torts – Other

Updated: 30 May 2022; Ref: scu.146272

Wyatt and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Thames Valley Police: Admn 28 Sep 2018

The Claimants challenged the decision of the Defendant, following a criminal complaint made by the Claimants to the Defendant, regarding the conduct of a public authority, that there was insufficient evidence to meet the Crown Prosecution Service’s threshold so as to justify any action against anyone, resulting in the closing of the investigation into the criminal allegations made by the Claimants, as recorded in a decision letter.

Judges:

Bryan J

Citations:

[2018] EWHC 2489 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police, Local Government

Updated: 30 May 2022; Ref: scu.625901

Chief Constable of Northumbria v Costello: CA 3 Dec 1998

A woman police officer was attacked by a prisoner in a cell. She sought damages for the failure of a senior officer nearby not to come to her aid, and from the chief constable under his vicarious liability.
Held: The chief constable’s appeal was dismissed. One police officer has a duty of care to come to the rescue of another. This special duty between police officers was not just a matter of police discipline, and exists despite the absence of a general duty of officers to aid particular members of the public. ‘For public policy reasons, the police are under no general duty of care to members of the public for their activities in the investigation and suppression of crime But . . circumstances may exceptionally arise when the police assume a responsibility, giving rise to a duty of care to a particular member of the public . . Neither the police nor other public rescue services are under any general obligation, giving rise to a duty of care, to respond to emergency calls . . nor, if they do respond, are they to be held liable for want of care in any attempt to prevent crime or effect a rescue. But if their own positive negligent intervention directly causes injury which would not otherwise have occurred or if it exacerbates injury or damage, there may be liability.’

Judges:

May LJ. Sir Christopher Slade, Hirst LJ

Citations:

Times 15-Dec-1998, [1998] EWCA Civ 1898, [1998] EWCA Civ 3536, (1999) 11 Admin LR 81, [1999] ICR 752, [1999] 1 All ER 550

Links:

Bailii, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – OLL Ltd v Secretary of State for Transport QBD 22-Jul-1997
Coastguard Not liable in Negligence
Eight children with a teacher and two instructors set off on a canoeing trip but did not return. They got into difficulties at sea. Two became separated from the rest. The canoes capsized and sank. Some tried to swim ashore. Two more members became . .
Cited – Capital and Counties Plc and Another v Hampshire County Council; Etc CA 20-Mar-1997
Three cases were brought against fire services after what were said to be negligent responses to call outs. On one, the fire brigade was called to a fire at office premises in Hampshire. The fire triggered the operation of a heat-activated sprinkler . .

Cited by:

Cited – Cowan and Another v The Chief Constable for Avon and Somerset Constabulary CA 14-Nov-2001
Where police had been called to an incident where a member of the public had been threatened with violence if he did not leave premises, did not have a duty to take action under the Act toward the applicant. It is only if a particular responsibility . .
Cited – Fay v Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police QBD 6-Feb-2003
The claimant had begun proceedings for the return of money held by the respondent. His action was stayed for inactivity, and the respondent later had the claim struck out on the basis that it would be an abuse of process to proceed.
Held: The . .
Cited – Mullaney v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police CA 15-May-2001
The claimant police officer was severely injured making an arrest. He claimed damages from the respondent for contributory negligence of other officers in failing to come to his assistance.
Held: If a police officer owes a duty of care to . .
Cited – Waters v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis HL 27-Jul-2000
A policewoman, having made a complaint of serious sexual assault against a fellow officer complained again that the Commissioner had failed to protect her against retaliatory assaults. Her claim was struck out, but restored on appeal.
Held: . .
Cited – An Informer v A Chief Constable CA 29-Feb-2012
The claimant appealed against dismissal of his claim for damages against the police. He had provided them with information, but he said that they had acted negligently and in breach of contract causing him financial loss. The officer handling his . .
Cited – Michael and Others v The Chief Constable of South Wales Police and Another SC 28-Jan-2015
The claimants asserted negligence in the defendant in failing to provide an adequate response to an emergency call, leading, they said to the death of their daughter at the hands of her violent partner. They claimed also under the 1998 Act. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Negligence

Updated: 30 May 2022; Ref: scu.145377

Leach v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Constabulary: CA 31 Jul 1998

It was arguable that the police owed a duty of care in negligence to a volunteer they called in to act as appropriate adult in harrowing and traumatic police interviews, and who later suffered nervous shock and stress as a result. The claimant had acted as such in an infamous multiple murder case.

Judges:

Henry LJ, Pill LJ, Brooke LJ

Citations:

Times 04-Sep-1998, [1998] EWCA Civ 1368, [1999] 1 All ER 215, [1999] 1 WLR 1421

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Walker v Northumberland County Council QBD 16-Nov-1994
The plaintiff was a manager within the social services department. He suffered a mental breakdown in 1986, and had four months off work. His employers had refused to provide the increased support he requested. He had returned to work, but again, did . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Police

Updated: 30 May 2022; Ref: scu.144847

Nobes, Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police v Schofield: CA 14 May 1998

A police constable was entitled to claim damages for nervous shock after a co-officer unexpectedly and unlawfully fired off shots from a gun they had found as part of a search.

Citations:

Times 15-May-1998, [1998] EWCA Civ 838

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Alcock and Others v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police HL 28-Nov-1991
The plaintiffs sought damages for nervous shock. They had watched on television, as their relatives and friends, 96 in all, died at a football match, for the safety of which the defendants were responsible. The defendant police service had not . .
Cited – Page v Smith HL 12-May-1995
The plaintiff was driving his car when the defendant turned into his path. Both cars suffered considerable damage but the drivers escaped physical injury. The Plaintiff had a pre-existing chronic fatigue syndrome, which manifested itself from time . .

Cited by:

Cited – Donachie v The Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester Police CA 7-Apr-2004
The claimant had been asked to work under cover. The surveillance equipment he was asked to use was faulty, requiring him to put himself at risk repeatedly to maintain it resulting in a stress disorder and a stroke.
Held: There was a direct . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Police, Negligence

Updated: 30 May 2022; Ref: scu.144316

Foulkes v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police: CA 9 Jun 1998

A man was locked out of the matrimonial home which he owned jointly with his wife, following a family dispute. The police told him, as was the fact, that his wife and children did not want him to re-enter the house and the police suggested that he leave the vicinity of the property until tempers had abated. He was arrested when he refused to leave and insisted that he wished to enter the house.
Held: Where a constable made an arrest after a breach of the peace had quietened before arriving, but anticipating a further breach, he had to anticipate an immediate or imminent recurrence of a breach to justify the arrest. ‘The common law power of a police constable to arrest, where no actual breach of the peace has occurred but where he apprehended that such a breach might be caused by apparently lawful conduct, was exceptional and should be exercised by him only in the clearest circumstances when he was satisfied on reasonable grounds that a breach of the peace was about to occur or was imminent. There had to be a sufficiently real and present threat to the peace to justify the extreme step of depriving of his liberty the citizen who was not at the time acting unlawfully.’
Beldam LJ said: ‘In my view, the words used by Lord Diplock and in the other authorities show that where no breach of the peace has taken place in his presence but a constable exercises his power of arrest because he fears a [future] breach, such apprehended breach must be about to occur or be imminent. In the present case PC McNamara acted with the best of intentions. He had tried persuasion but the plaintiff refused to be persuaded or to accept the sensible guidance he had been given but in my judgment that was not a sufficient basis to conclude that a breach of the peace was about to occur or was imminent. There must, I consider, be a sufficiently real and present threat to the peace to justify the extreme step of depriving of his liberty a citizen who is not at the time acting unlawfully. The factors identified by the recorder in the present case do not in my judgment measure up to a sufficiently serious or imminent threat to the peace to justify arrest.’
Thorpe LJ said of the making of an arrest for a breach of the peace: ‘I accept it is a possible result under the law as it has evolved to prevent breach of the peace. But I would hope that only in the rarest cases would domestic dispute and the rights of occupation of the matrimonial home be subject to the breach of the peace regime.’

Judges:

Beldam LJ, Thorpe LJ

Citations:

Times 26-Jun-1998, [1998] EWCA Civ 938, [1998] 3 All ER 705

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Albert v Lavin HL 3-Dec-1981
An off duty and out of uniform police officer attempted to restrain the defendant jumping ahead of a bus queue. The defendant struggled, and continued to do so even after being told that of the officer’s status. He said he had not believed that he . .

Cited by:

Cited – Chief Constable of Cleveland Police v Mark Anthony McGrogan CA 12-Feb-2002
The Chief Constable appealed a finding of false imprisonment of the claimant. He had once been properly arrested, but before he was freed, it was decided that he should be held for court and an information laid alleging breach of the peace. They . .
Cited – Wragg, Regina (on the Application Of) v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 15-Jun-2005
The court faced a case stated where the defendant had been accused of resisting arrest. The officers claimed to have anticipated a breach of the peace, having been called to a domestic dispute.
Held: Though the defendant had not behaved with . .
Cited – Bibby v Chief Constable of Essex Police CA 6-Apr-2000
A bailiff sought to execute against goods in a shop against the will of the occupier. The police attended and when tempers were raised the police officer anticipated a breach of the peace by the bailiff and arrested him. He sought damages for that . .
Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the application of ) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire HL 13-Dec-2006
The claimants had been in coaches being driven to take part in a demonstration at an air base. The defendant police officers stopped the coaches en route, and, without allowing any number of the claimants to get off, returned the coaches to London. . .
Cited – Humberside Police v McQuade CA 12-Jul-2001
Defendant’s appeal against an order giving judgment for the claimant in the action for damages to be assessed for wrongful arrest and personal injury. The claimant had been arrested in his home, purportedly for a breach of the peace. There was no . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Torts – Other, Crime

Updated: 30 May 2022; Ref: scu.144417

Haw, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Another: Admn 29 Jul 2005

The claimant appealed a decision to prevent him demonstrating against the war in Iraq from the pavement outside the Houses of Parliament.

Judges:

Mr Justice McCombe Mr Justice Simon Lady Justice Smith DBE

Citations:

[2005] EWHC 2061 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police

Updated: 29 May 2022; Ref: scu.231221