Even in today’s world of widespread CCTV and ANPR cameras and mobile phone data, the place in which most of us appear most clearly on the State’s radar is the airport, when transiting between countries, and hence it has been the location of many wrongful arrests which I have been called upon to assist in rectifying, as this is the place where a data error or identity mix-up on the Police National Computer can all too easily go from being a glitch in the system managed by faceless Police bureaucrats, into the terrifying arrest of an innocent person in front of their bewildered friends, family or colleagues, leaving deep psychological scars.
In November 2022, my client Ross was interviewed by Sussex Police in respect of an allegation of Common Assault. He provided his home address, in East Sussex. Following interview under caution, Ross was released and advised that any decision or further action would be communicated to him in due course.
He heard nothing further and thought no more about it. Then, in May 2023, returning from a holiday to Spain, Ross flew into Gatwick Airport.
As he exited the plane, Ross was obliged to show his passport, whereupon he was arrested by Police Officers for ‘failing to attend’ Hastings Magistrates’ Court in April 2023. This took place in front of Ross’s wife and numerous other passengers. Ross was shocked and honestly asserted that he had not been aware of any Court summons.
The arresting Officers advised that he had been summonsed, but the address which they gave him, as to where the postal requisition had been sent, was a completely different address in another area of East Sussex; nevertheless, it was an address Ross recognised – it was his old home, where he had not lived for 8 years.
The Officers stated that given a Court Warrant had been issued, they had no alternative but to continue with Ross’s arrest. He was led away, feeling degraded and humiliated, whilst his wife was obliged to collect and carry all of their luggage and make arrangements to be picked up, causing my client further anxiety and distress.
Ross was taken first to Gatwick Police Station and then to Crawley Police Station where he was ‘processed’ and searched.
Following the booking in procedure, Ross was incarcerated in a cell overnight. The next morning, he was transferred to prison escort services and taken to Crawley Magistrates Court to await his fate.
Upon my client’s production before the Magistrates, it was confirmed by the Court that the address details endorsed on the Postal Summons (prepared by Sussex Police) were incorrect, and that the Postal Summons had indeed been sent to Ross’s old property.
Ross was then immediately released and the underlying proceedings against him adjourned to a later date. He had been wrongly deprived of his liberty for almost 24 hours in harrowing circumstances, and felt physically and emotionally exhausted.
“Jet Lag” doesn’t even begin to get close to describing such an experience, but it is one which I intimately understand, having advised so many clients who have been unlawfully detained at the border in just this or similar circumstances, turning the ‘happy holidays’ venue of an airport into a place of bad memories and future fears.
I advised Ross that although he could not sue Sussex Police for false imprisonment, because they had the ‘constable’s protection’ of acting under a Court warrant (albeit a warrant only issued because of a constable’s incompetence in the recording of his address), he would be able to achieve effectively the same remedy in damages by pursuing the Police for the inaccurate processing of his data, leading to his wrongful arrest at the airport, and hence deprivation of his liberty in contravention of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (as enabled into English law by the Human Rights Act 1998).
When Sussex Police failed to admit liability in response to the letter of claim which I sent – hiding behind the ongoing criminal prosecution for the original assault – I promptly issued civil court proceedings on behalf of Ross, arguing that his compensation claim, arising from an administrative error, was clearly distinct from the criminal matter, and I am pleased to confirm that the Police have recently agreed to pay Ross £9,000 damages, plus his legal costs for this whole unfortunate episode.
I am very pleased to have achieved this result for Ross, but for the reasons I outlined at the beginning of this blog, I know that he will be far from the last person to find his journey to baggage claim wrongfully turned into a trip to Police custody.
When such post- holiday nightmares occur, I am here to help.
My client’s name has been changed.
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