This is a guest post by my colleague and fellow solicitor, Aidan Walley.
Iain has previously written about the power of an apology for Claimants who have been wronged by Police forces. Even when admitting fault and paying compensation to Claimants, Police forces have no legal obligation to apologise nor could any Court force them to. However, to many Claimants an apology is worth more than any compensation they could recover. That was certainly the case for my clients David and Jessica experienced in June 2021. At the time they both lived at 22 Greensleeves Road in Sussex. At the time Jessica was 5 months pregnant with twins, the couple’s first children.
That night David and Jessica were asleep in the top bedroom of their flat when they were awakened by the sound of someone forcing entry downstairs through the front door. David immediately rushed down the stairs to confront the intruders and protect Jessica and their unborn children.
David found himself confronted by several Police officers shining torch lights, shouting, and pointing Tasers at him. The officers briefly searched the flat and then left after realising they had the wrong address.
The incident left David and Jessica highly agitated and distressed. David was deeply concerned for Jessica and their unborn children and called 999. The operator recommended that David summon a Police medic to assess Jessica, thankfully both Jessica and the babies were fine.
Sometime later that night a senior officer in charge of the operation attended the premises. The officer explained that the Police had intelligence that a suspected murderer was hiding in a flat on the same street and officers had planned to raid that flat to arrest the suspect. The address that the suspect was hiding in was 26 Greensleeves Road, however due to an administrative error 22 Greensleeves Road had been put on Police paperwork instead. The officer apologised to David and Jessica and said that someone would be in touch to repair the front door.
David later established that after leaving their home, the officers then entered 26 Greensleeves Road to search for the murder suspect. Due to the mistaken raid on David and Jessica’s home, the real suspect had been alerted to the Police presence in the street and escaped onto the roof, where he remained in a standoff with officers for several hours.
Afterwards David did not return to work for several days both due to the shock of the incident and in the expectation that someone from the Police would attend to replace the premises’ door. After several days David and Jessica left the premises to go and stay with Jessica’s parents for approximately two weeks as they no longer felt safe in their own home.
As a result of this incident both David and Jessica suffered psychological trauma and had to be prescribed sleeping tablets by their GPs.
On behalf of David and Jessica I submitted a claim to Sussex Police for trespass, false imprisonment, assault and battery, and breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Despite accepting that a mistake had been made and acknowledging the apology of the senior officer on the night, Sussex Police denied liability asserting that the officers had lawfully entered David and Jessica’s home using powers under section 17 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
Section 17 states:
17 Entry for purpose of arrest etc.
- Subject to the following provisions of this section, and without prejudice to any other enactment, a constable may enter and search any premises for the purpose—
…
(b) of arresting a person for an indictable offence (ie murder).
Yet further, Sussex Police refused to provide a written apology stating that one was not needed as the senior officer on the night had already done so. Notwithstanding this denial, Sussex Police did offer a £1,000 “gesture of good will”.
However, the Police denial of liability was clearly unsustainable given that the officers had raided the wrong address due to their own mistake. As the officers had no power to enter any address other than the correct one, any actions they committed, such as threatening David with a Taser, whilst in David and Jessica’s home was also unlawful.
I therefore had no hesitation in advising David and Jessica to reject the Police’s offers and commission medical evidence from a psychological expert. After examining David, the expert in his report highlighted the following:
“He (David) said that after a while they received an offer of £1000 from the Police, without any apology or acceptance of liability and he found this very insulting and it made him even more angry.”
After disclosing the medical reports and following further negotiations, Sussex Police ultimately agreed to pay David and Jessica a combined settlement of £14,000 plus their legal costs. The Police also finally agreed given a written apology to David and Jessica:
“As a Force, we always do our utmost to ensure that any information we act on is accurate, but unfortunately on very rare occasions we get it wrong. Attending your address was one of those occasions, and for that we are truly sorry.
I appreciate and understand that our interactions would have caused you significant distress as entirely innocent parties.
It is hoped that compensation, together with this letter, can bring you closure.
I wish you and your family well for the future and thank you for bringing this to our attention.”
Had Sussex Police apologised immediately on presentation of the claim they could have saved David and Jessica from further anguish. However, I am pleased to say that with the formal apology that I was able to obtain for them David and Jessica were able to put this terrible event behind them and enjoy being the parents of their newly born twins.
Should the Police ever come knocking down the wrong door, you know who to call.
(The names and address of my clients have been changed.)
You must be logged in to post a comment.