One of the simplest mistakes the Police can make is to misread an address and ‘raid’ the wrong property under a search warrant or other planned operation – a ‘schoolboy error’ which causes a terrifying ordeal for the innocent family who experience what can only be described as a ‘home invasion’ – an inversion of what should be a family’s safest space into a theatre of nightmares, particularly for the children of the family.
Despite the number of clients I have represented who have suffered exactly this form of ‘wrong address’ raid, I still remain surprised at quite how prevalent it is; such an easy problem for the Police to avoid, and yet time and time again Force after Force smashes down the wrong door.
My client Arthur Owusu and his family reside in Reading. The street number of their house is 25, and Arthur lives there with his wife Faith, their three school-age daughters and Faith’s brother George. The family have lived there since 2013. They were not just recently arrived tenants, stepping into a property associated with somebody else.
Early one morning in 2022, Arthur was preparing breakfast in the kitchen, whilst his daughters got ready for school upstairs, when he was disturbed by loud banging on the front door.
Arthur went to the door but was given no chance to answer it, for at this moment uniformed Police Officers flooded into his house, having used a battering ram to break-and-enter.
Arthur was immediately seized and handcuffed to the rear by several officers; he was dazed and confused by what was happening, a situation compounded by the fact that English is not his first language.
Officers began to search the premises and located the other family members, who were then escorted into the lounge to join Arthur in temporary captivity, this included Faith and the girls who had been in the process of using the bathroom/ getting ready in their bedrooms and thus were in a state of undress when the Police burst in. It was particularly traumatising for Arthur’s young daughters to see their father being held in handcuffs in their living room, like a criminal.
There are few noises more frightening than that of your house being broken into – the noise of intruders breaking not merely a physical lock or window but the psychological seal of privacy and safety which we take for granted around our family home. Muddy boot prints on the carpet can be scrubbed clean much more easily than the footprints such an experience leaves in the memory – particularly the minds of children and, sadly, it was unsurprising that long after this event was over, Arthur’s young daughters required counselling/ therapy (which I am pleased to say I was able to facilitate for them as part of their claims).
The Officers now explained that they were here to execute a Search Warrant in regards to an individual by the surname of “Jones.” Arthur explained that Mr Jones was known to him – as his next door neighbour; for Mr Jones lived at 25A, and had done so for many years.
The Officers now realised their mistake and released Arthur from his handcuffs (though not before he had suffered bruising/ marking upon his wrists). A senior officer advised the Owusu family that arrangements would be made for their front door to be repaired and the Officers then trooped out, leaving the family bewildered, shaken and upset.
Thankfully, the Police intrusion had lasted for less than half an hour, although it had felt far longer to the family whilst they were undergoing it, such was the intensity of the shock, and its effects would persist for a long time afterwards – as I have already alluded to.
Arthur and his family all suffered with anxiety, mood and sleep disturbance following the incident. Arthur felt a deep shame at being seen by his family in handcuffs – with all the stigma of criminality attached to that degrading piece of Police ‘kit’ – and his youngest daughter, aged only eight at the time, was worried for months afterwards whenever she was apart from him, for fear that the Police had come back to get him.
Getting the ‘wrong house’ with a similar number is an easy mistake to make – but it is absolutely inexcusable when the consequence is not to have a lost letter come through the door, but rather a paramilitary-style break-and-enter Police squad.
Police ‘intelligence’ which makes this kind of elementary mistake really isn’t living up to its name and calls for pushback with the full force of the law.
I was therefore more than happy to help the Owusu family when they consulted me, and I presented claims for trespass to land and breach of Article 8 of the Human Rights Act (the protection of private and family life) on their behalf against Thames Valley Police, along with associated assault and battery (which included the family’s initial fear – particularly on the part of the children – that the intruders might be something worse than misdirected Police Officers).
Although no one was arrested, all of the family were also entitled to sue the Police for false imprisonment; for the 25 minutes or so that the Police were in occupation of the house also counted as a period of detention for its occupants, who were obviously not free to come and go as they pleased. Read here another of my recent blogs in which I explain the legal basis behind such a claim made in very similar circumstances.
Despite such an obvious error on the part of the Police they prevaricated about liability, only admitted after I formally threatened legal action, and even then tried to under–settle the family’s claim for damages. However, I am pleased to confirm that I have recently concluded all of the Owusu’s claims for total damages of over £57,000 – more than twice as much as Thames Valley were initially prepared to offer.
So that is why if the Police wrongly knock down your door – I urge you to rightly come knocking on mine!
My clients’ names have been changed.
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