Adding Value: this is a blog post about how I was able to assist the victim of an unlawful Police home intrusion to substantially increase her damages after she had initially started off pursuing the claim without legal representation.
When Natalie first consulted my firm in August 2024 she eloquently summed up her experience of trying to claim compensation from South Wales Police (SWP) as one of “going round and round in circles”. The Police had first offered Natalie £105 and had then increased this to £400 – still an entirely derisory amount, and an example of how Police lawyers will try to take advantage of the naivety of the general public: our adversarial justice system puts no obligation on them to play fair. Thankfully, Natalie then turned to me for advice.
Natalie and her partner Sarah were asleep in bed when they were awoken by the horrendous sound of their front door being smashed open by a battering ram, shouting and men running up the stairs towards their bedroom (the first one to come in sight being in ‘plain clothes’ and thus not obviously an Officer); the burglars turned out to be the Police, executing a search warrant – at the wrong address.
After reviewing the facts of the case and agreeing to represent Natalie and her partner on a “no win, no fee” basis, I added significant value to their claims by identifying the following breaches of the law for which compensation could and should be sought over and above the ‘property damage’ and distress which Natalie had claimed thus far –
- Trespass to land.
- Breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (i.e. the right to private and family life).
- False imprisonment (i.e. the loss of liberty which falls upon any individual during a Police search, when the Officers assume ‘command’ not only over the land, but also the people within it by giving them orders/restricting their freedom of movement – in the case of Natalie and her partner they were required to ‘move’ from their bedroom into the downstairs living room.
- Assault (which is not restricted to physical contact alone, but which includes the apprehension of force – and few of us would fail to have a visceral reaction to the sight and sound of strangers in our home).
Within minutes, the Officers involved in the raid had clearly realised their mistake, and indeed had started apologising to Natalie and Sarah, but that did not assuage the impact of those initial terrifying moments, which had left Sarah hyperventilating.
The Police did board up the hole where Natalie’s front door had been that day, but it was several months before the door was properly replaced by her landlord. A smashed door, lying on the ground completely off its hinges, as Natalie’s was, is the physical tip of the psychological iceberg in cases like this; a symbol that can be captured on camera of all the damage that can’t be – the mental trauma and violation of the sanctity and safety of the home, every person’s most intimate refuge. Nails and plywood don’t come close to fixing it.
Just as much as an Englishman’s, a Welsh woman’s home is her castle. It was confirmed that South Wales Police Professional Standards Department had deemed the incident “Not acceptable” and were providing “Individual and team learning”to the Officers involved “In an attempt to avoid future incidents of a similar nature”; but any satisfactory conclusion of this matter would also involve acceptable compensation – which is something the Police were far from offering at this stage.
Even after my firm became involved, SWP sought to buy off Natalie’s claim for £750 and Sarah’s claim for £1,000, offers which I advised my clients to reject without hesitation.
To further bolster Natalie’s claim, arrangements were made for her to be examined by an independent medical expert in order to prove the extent of the psychological impact of the incident. SWP were being extremely combative about that aspect of the claim, maintaining that Natalie and Sarah had not been ‘detained’ when they manifestly had been – and suggesting that because one of my clients could be heard on the Police body camera footage laughing and joking with the Officers at the end of the incident that meant it was all really ‘no big deal’, completely overlooking the fact that a woman might well use laughter and apparent bonhomie to mask her own fears and deflect the threat posed to her by the squad of strange men who had violently entered her home in such circumstances.
When South Wales Police failed to provide a timely response after Natalie’s medical evidence had been submitted, I further escalated matters by authorising the institution of civil Court proceedings on behalf of Sarah and Natalie.
In response, the Police admitted liability for all aspects of the claim, save for assault.
I am pleased to report that not long after the first Case Management Hearing was listed in the Court proceedings, I was able to conclude Natalie’s claim for £10,000 damages and Sarah’s claim for £4,000 damages, plus their legal costs. Natalie was very happy to be able to conclude the matter on these terms, reflecting on how the Police’s initial offer to her had been a mere £400 and therefore that the combined settlement I had achieved for her and her partner represented a 3,500% increase in damages. That hugely increased sum of money also represents for my clients, most importantly, the emotional riches of empowerment, accountability and ‘taking back control’ of your life.
That is what I am proud to call, adding value.
The name of my client here identified as “Sarah” has been changed.
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