Police arrested the claimant on Friday, but before releasing him on the Saturday they executed a warrant they had known about on arrest, resulting in his being kept in custody over the weekend. He claimed false imprisonment. The court held that the police had a discretion as to when to execute the warrant, but that discretion must not be exercised unreasonably. There may be many proper reasons for delaying the execution of the warrant, but a general policy which removed the discretion would be wrong.
Citations:
Times 16-Mar-2001
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Police, Torts – Other
Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.81314