In the 2002 film ‘Minority Report’ an interesting science fiction premise is explored – what if it was possible to apprehend criminals before they had committed their crimes by use of the ‘precognitive’ talents of a team of psychics? At the start of the film, Tom Cruise is the Police Chief of what is known as the ‘Precrime’ Department.
Appreciating that this is not a film review blog, why am I telling you this tale? It is because I have just settled a claim on behalf of an individual who suffered what I can only describe as a ‘Precrime’ arrest at the hands of Merseyside Police. Whether Mr Cruise will agree to play him in the dramatisation of this blog post remains to be seen…
I have written before about many unlawful arrests which have occurred at airport boarding gates or Passport Control, airport terminals being the nexus where private lives show up most frequently on the radar of law enforcement and therefore where people can often fall prey to mistaken identity arrests arising from errors on the Police database or be ‘caught’ by an arrest warrant which should never have been issued.
Never before, however, have I had a client suffer an airport arrest for failing to attend a Court hearing which had not yet taken place,as I will unfold below.
In December 2022 my client Philip was arrested and released from Custody on bail. He subsequently booked a holiday to Turkey, due to depart on 28 June and return on 8 July 2023.
My client was subsequently charged with the original offence, and a Postal Summons was sent to him requiring his attendance at the Magistrates Court on 3 July 2023. In the meantime, my client had been released from his bail conditions.
Due to the holiday which he had booked before receiving the Postal Summons, Philip instructed his criminal defence solicitors to liaise with the Court to re-arrange his attendance. Assuming that in the circumstances, this fairly reasonable/routine request would be agreed, my client proceeded with his holiday plans and he and his family attended Manchester Airport for their outbound flight as arranged on 28 June 2023.
Had it not proved possible for the Court date to be re-arranged by his solicitors in the intervening time, there was of course nothing to stop my client returning to the UK in time for the Court date on 3 July – however, he was not given the opportunity for either of those events to unfold. Instead, he was approached at the departure gate by Officers of Merseyside Police who had been dispatched to arrest Philip if he was unable to show a return flight to the UK prior to his Court Hearing.
The Officers took Philip to one side, queried his travel arrangements and then purported to arrest him for ‘breach of bail’ on the basis that he would not be “surrendering to the Court on the scheduled day.” He was handcuffed and led out of the terminal.
Philip was then taken to Wirral Custody Suite, and where the circumstances of his arrest were recorded as follows –
BREACH OF COURT BAIL – AO ATTENDS MANCHESTER AIRPORT AS AO IS MADE AWARE THE DP IS BOOKED ON A FLIGHT HEADING TO TURKEY WHEN HE HAS A COURT DATE ON 03/07/2023… DP DETAINED AT THE BOARDING GATE AND ENQUIRIES REVEAL THE DP WOULD NO RETURN TO THE UK UNTIL 08/07/2023 THERFORE MISSING HIS COURT DATE.
My client had, of course, already and long since been released from bail in this matter. He was not subject to any bail conditions and the Custody Record entry made it clear that he was, in effect, being arrested for failure to attend Court some 5 days prior to the Court Hearing – or, in other words, for a ‘Precrime’.
My client was placed into a cell, whilst his criminal solicitor made urgent representations as to this ridiculous state of affairs.
However, by the time Philip was NFA’d (told he would face no further action) and released, the flight with the rest of his family on had long since departed and he was obliged to book a further flight to join them at considerable cost.
At the Hearing itself on 3 July, representations were made to the Court by Philip’s legal representative that he was on holiday so was unable to attend and that the holiday had been booked before the Notice of Charge was sent to him. As a result, and as one could have expected without psychic powers, the Hearing was adjourned.
I am pleased to confirm that in response to the detailed letter of claim which I sent to Merseyside Police, they promptly admitted liability for the wrongful arrest of Philip and I was able to negotiate a very satisfactory settlement of £6,000 damages plus legal costs for him. This more than covered his additional flight expenses…
Whilst I am pleased to have resolved this particular case so swiftly I am afraid to say that I don’t need pre-cognitive abilities to know that law enforcement ‘mistakes’ will continue to regularly occur at our country’s airports, and if you have been the victim of similar type of wrongful arrest, please don’t hesitate to contact me for advice and representation.
My client’s name has been changed.
Iain Gould - Actions Against the Police Solicitor 
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