Some of the wrongful arrest claims which I handle arise directly from Police malice i.e the deliberate fabrication of falsehoods in order to justify a person’s arrest, very commonly to cover-up the fact that an officer has over-stepped the mark, lost his temper and assaulted a member of the public (whom he now accuses of having ‘thrown the first punch’).
But other wrongful arrests arise from more indirect acts of Police misconduct – including sloppy investigations, mistaken identity and prejudice/ bias on the part of the Police – all three of which factors I believe played a part in a case which I have recently successfully concluded against Thames Valley Police (TVP).
My client, whom I will identify as Adam Butler, lived in Oxford and had recently fallen out with his brother Jack over a relatively innocuous argument involving an x-box.
Adam had a past criminal conviction for which he had served prison time, but was now very much on the straight and narrow.
On 23 December 2020 Thames Valley Police opened an incident log in relation to a reported offence of harassment, said to have been committed in the Oxfordshire village of Kennington, as follows-
Caller noticed a male riding his bike passed her house multiple times a day and stopping outside the bushes in her house back in October. She said she had noticed him looking up at her window and staring, she said to him “Is everything ok?” The male said “Yes” shrugged his shoulders and carried on standing there…
This then escalated to the male dropping a Christmas card off at the house at the end of November – Caller didn’t think this was serious until this point and seeked advice from her room mates about the card and they stated that this was very weird. The Christmas card said “To someone special, Merry Christmas and a happy new year”. This was not signed off…The next day she saw the male walk passed her drive and stop outside the bushes, she looked out of the window and he gestured that she open the window which she did and the male asked her if she got his card, she said thank you it was very kind of you and closed the window.
She then didn’t see him for a while…Then today she has received a letter from the male, she was sat at the window and saw him walk to the door and then walk away and then get on his scooter and ride away. She opened the letter and it said-
FOR THE ATTRACTIVE SEXY GIRL THAT LIVES UPSTAIRS XXX – TO WHOM IT CONCERNS, I HOPE YOU DON’T GET OFFENDED BY THIS AND IM REALLY SORRY IF YOU DO. HOWEVER ME AND MY FIANCEE HAS GOT A PROPOSAL FOR YOU IF YOU WOULD LIKE AND ARE WILLING ME AND MY FIANCEE WILL PAY YOU £65 ON THE DAY TO HAVE SEX WITH ME WHILST RECORDED. AND ANOTHER £65 WITH MY FIANCEE TO COME DOWN AND HAVE A THREESOME WITH US. IF YOU WERE WILLING CAN YOU PLEASE SEND SOME PICS OF YOURSELF AND WE WILL DO THE SAME WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU. KIND REGARDS JACK BUTLER.
PS CAN YOU PLEASE IF POSSIBLE SEND ME THE REPLY ON FACEBOOK OR SNAPCHAT.
The ‘proposal’ was then signed off, with the author providing his ‘Snapchat’ and ‘Facebook’ addresses, in anticipation of the victim making contact with him. Both of these addresses were names which were variations of ‘Jack Butler’.
Some might say that this was not necessarily a case to tax the brain of Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, or dare I say it Inspector Morse – the perpetrator of the harassment clearly having identified himself and signed his name at the end of the letter.
My client’s brother Jack was quite properly identified as the suspect within a few hours of the crime being reported – but the Police then went on to ‘overthink’ the case and identified Adam as an additional suspect, because of his previous criminal record and the fact that they believed that Adam lived in closer proximity to the victim’s house. This was despite the fact that they had Jack Butler’s signature and his correct social media addresses. Furthermore, the Police based their assumption of proximity on a mistaken belief that Adam lived in Kennington – the village where the incident occurred – whereas in fact he lived in Headington, some 5 miles away on the other side of Oxford.
Yet further, the Police were soon in possession of a photograph of the offender – obtained from the victim’s Ring doorbell – and it was noted that this appeared to match the Facebook profile photograph of my client’s brother. The two brothers were not twins, and facially looked quite distinct; Adam was of chubbier build and did not have a slim face – the victim having notably described the offender’s face as appearing ‘very slim and sunken’ in a statement she made the day before Adam’s arrest. Furthermore, Adam had a distinctive gap in his teeth, where his brother did not.
Nevertheless, on 23 December, two officers visited Adam’s flat and and questioned him as to whether he had a girlfriend (which he didn’t) and whether he knew anyone who lived in Kennington . The female officer of the pair explained about the offensive letter which had been posted and asked to see Adam’s diary so she could compare his handwriting to that on the letter. Adam was happy to fully comply with all of these enquiries/ requests. When the female officer handed Adam’s diary back to him she reassured him “You don’t have anything to worry about.”
Sadly, Adam was to receive another visit to his flat the following day, Christmas Eve, and it wasn’t from Santa Claus but rather more Police officers – come this time to arrest him.
The group of officers who turned up to arrest Adam on 24 December were different and didn’t appear to know anything about the visit their colleagues had made the day before. Adam was led out of his house, had his phone confiscated and was transported to Abingdon Police Station. He was booked into custody, searched and incarcerated in a cell – the last place anyone wants to be on Christmas Eve. He was extremely stressed by these unfolding events and, as he suffers from mental health issues – including depression and previous self harm – asked for his support worker to be notified. Adam knew he was entirely innocent and couldn’t understand why he was being arrested.
Eventually, around 3 hours later, Adam was released – without having been interviewed. It seems a senior officer had looked at the Ring doorbell photograph of the offender and realised that this obviously wasn’t Adam. The investigation proceeded in regards to Jack only – who, indeed, subsequently admitted his guilt for the offence (which it should have been patently obvious from the outset he had committed).
It was quite clear that only one of the Butler brothers should ever have been arrested on the known facts – Jack – but the Police appear to have followed a lazy ‘arrest the usual suspects’ approach and to have treated my client as a suspect largely if not solely because of his historical criminal record, which had nothing specifically to do with the offence under investigation. Entirely unnecessary suffering was caused to Adam as a result and he quite rightly sought compensation from Thames Valley Police.
Adam was initially represented in bringing his claim by a criminal defence solicitor (whom I highly respect) who subsequently referred Adam to myself when the Police made it clear they were going to dispute liability for wrongful arrest.
TVP continued to argue that they had the requisite ‘reasonable suspicion’ to arrest Adam, so I issued Court proceedings on Adam’s behalf and shortly afterwards was able to settle Adam’s claim on terms which included a very satisfactory financial settlement but, more importantly, gave Adam a sense that the scales of justice which had been tipped against him by sloppy Policing and prejudice arising from his past criminal record could be rebalanced and the system that had wronged him could be made to work in his favour, and deliver a fair and proper outcome.
I will let Adam have the final word in this blog, in the terms of the kind review which he provided at the end of his case-
I came across Iain Gould as he was highly recommended by another solicitor…He is very understanding, honest, respectful and works very hard to get the best possible outcome…I would highly recommend working with Iain Gould.
(Names have been changed).
Iain Gould - Actions Against the Police Solicitor 
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