There had been an arrest by shop detectives of two customers who were believed to have stolen goods, the arrest taking place after they had left the shop. The shop detectives returned with them to the shop in order to allow a senior person in management to decide what steps should be taken, the decision being to hand them over to the police to pursue charges.
Held: The House rejected the proposition that they were to be taken before a justice immediately or forthwith, accepted that the requirement was to take them before a justice as soon as reasonably practicable, and held that there was no breach of that standard involved in taking them back to a responsible officer, who might then deliver them to the authority of the police. Being an arrest by private citizens, the validity of the arrest turned on whether a theft had been committed.
Where in exercise of the common law power of arrest, a person arrests another for an offence, his duty is to take the arrested person before a justice or to a police station as soon as he reasonably can.
Lord Porter said: ‘Those who arrest must be persuaded of the guilt of the accused; they cannot bolster up their assurance or the strength of the case by seeking further evidence and detaining the man arrested meanwhile or taking him to some spot where they can or may find further evidence.’
Citations:
[1952] AC 676, [1952] 1 All ER 1203; [1952] 1 WLR 1132, [1952] 1 TLR 1132, [1951] 2 KB 549
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
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 – Howarth v Gwent Constabulary and Another QBD 1-Nov-2011
The claimant alleged malicious prosecution and misfeasance in public office against the defendant. He had been charged with perverting the course of justice. He had worked for a firm of solicitors specialising in defending road traffic prosecutions. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime, Torts – Other
Updated: 12 September 2022; Ref: scu.221537