Wrongful Police Arrest

Although we rely on the Police to protect us at times of risk and danger, we are equally entitled to be treated fairly by the Police and they should, at all times, adhere to the strict legal guidelines which have been designed to protect our liberty.

Before an arrest is made, there are two basic requirements that the Police must be able to demonstrate:

1. The Police must have reasonable grounds for suspecting that someone has committed an offence.

• Once reasonable grounds to suspect an offence have been established, the second requirement for an arrest to be lawful is that the Police must show that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the arrest was necessary.

What constitutes “reasonable grounds”?

Examples are:

• Evidence from a reliable witness that someone has been involved in a crime.
• Evidence to support the Police’s belief that an individual was present at a time and place when a crime was committed.

If there were no reasonable grounds to suspect you of having committed an offence, then any arrest will be deemed to be unlawful. Any time then spent in custody will be classed as false imprisonment

Was an arrest actually necessary?

If an arrest could have been avoided by simply making some routine enquiries or, for example, a person is happy to attend voluntarily at a Police Station and is fully co-operative with all enquiries made by the Police, it can be very difficult for the Police to establish that the arrest was “necessary”.  If the Police are not able to give a good reason as to why an arrest was necessary, then that arrest will be unlawful.

If you are arrested, the Police must always:

1. Inform you that they are the Police.
2. Explain that you are under arrest.
3. Tell you what crime they are arresting you for.
4. Tell you why it is necessary to arrest you.
5. Explain to you that you are detained and may not leave.

Damages for an assault during an arrest

The Police can only use what is known as “reasonable force” during an arrest. If, but only if, a person has, for example, become violent towards them or have tried to escape from the Police Officers, they may, for example, then use an approved hold, pin the person down or handcuff them. Even if an arrest is lawful, the level of force used must be proportionate. The Police must follow strict guidelines on the use of force during an arrest if for example, they use pepper spray or a taser.  If the police use of force was not justified, you may have grounds to sue the police for assault.  

If you are wrongfully arrested and are held in custody for any amount of time, you can sue the Police for wrongful arrest.

Once you have been arrested, the Police can hold you for 24 hours and must then either charge you with a criminal offence or release you. The police can in certain circumstances, apply to hold you for a longer period up to 96 hours if you have been arrested on suspicion of committing a more serious offence, such as murder.

How much can you claim for unlawful arrest?

The amount of compensation that you can recover varies depending on the length of time that you were held in Police custody.  The longer the length of time that you were held in custody unlawfully, the greater the amount of compensation awarded.  Generally speaking, if you were held in custody for an hour, compensation would start at around £1,000.00 and is then likely to increase to around £5,000.00-£6,000.00 for a period of 24 hours or longer.

If you think you have been the victim of an unlawful arrest, what should you do next?

If you contact our Team at P R Scully & Co Solicitors, we will take initial details from you and we will give you some initial advice as to whether we think your case is likely to succeed.  We will be able to advise you more thoroughly once we have all of the information from the Police that they are obliged to disclose to us.  Fortunately, with the advent of bodycam footage being used by the Police, it is much more difficult for the Police to dispute events surrounding your arrest.  Once we have all of the documentation from the Police surrounding your arrest (along with the bodycam footage), we will then be able to give you a much more detailed advice in terms of the likelihood of your case succeeding. If we believe that you have a strong case and the Police refuse to pay compensation, we will issue Court proceedings on your behalf.

Will you have to attend at Court?

Although it may be necessary to issue Court proceedings if the Police refuse to accept responsibility and pay, the vast majority of litigated cases settle before they reach trial.  

 How will you pay for your case?

We will run your case under a Conditional Fee Agreement, more commonly known as a ‘no win, no fee’ agreement. If your case is successful, we will charge a 25% success fee which will be deducted from the compensation that you receive at the end of your case. If, once we have reviewed all the evidence that is supplied to us, including bodycam footage, we advise you that we think that you do not have a strong case, there are no charges to pay and the agreement would come to an end.

Call us today on 0161 768 9400