Animal rights activist Gemma Barnes was unlawfully arrested by Sussex Police after she was assaulted during an anti-fox hunting protest in Lewes, despite officers initially treating her as the victim and arresting her attackers. This case highlights an important principle of police powers: officers cannot detain someone without lawful authority, and any arrest must comply with the strict requirements of Section 24 and Section 28 of PACE.
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100% of this week’s blog post was generated by me, the human.
The case of Gemma Barnes, an animal rights activist, recently attracted considerable media attention after videos were published online showing Police officers being rude and derogatory about Gemma and another activist, after Gemma had been arrested at a protest in Norwich in January 2023. The officers thought that they were talking “behind closed doors” – but they were in fact accidentally recording their conversation on Gemma’s confiscated body camera, which they subsequently handed back to her.
The Police attitude showcased in these recordings does not make a pretty picture, and I think backs up the point I made in a previous blog post regarding Police behaviour towards protestors.
By way of a further illustration of that point, I can now talk about the circumstances of another unlawful arrest which Gemma suffered, at the hands of Sussex Police, and which is also a very useful reminder of a fundamental pillar of our civil rights: that the Police do not ‘out rank’ civilians and cannot detain us against our will without using a specific power such as stop-and-search or criminal arrest; and if they are purporting to arrest us, they have to explain themselves and provide key information in accordance with Section 28 of the Police & Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984.
Unlawful Arrest at an Anti-Fox Hunting Protest in Lewes
In this particular instance, which occurred in December 2024, Gemma attended an anti-fox hunting protest on Lewes High Street. A rival “pro-hunt” group was in attendance.
The two protest groups were situated on either side of Lewes High Street and were separated by a line of Sussex Police Officers.
My client alleges that the pro-hunt group made threats of violence towards her group, and also racist insults, including calling a black member of the anti-hunt group a “monkey”, “big lips”, and imitating monkey noises in their direction.
Is It a Criminal Offence to Film the Police Making an Arrest?
At one point, one of the pro-hunt group was arrested by Officers. Gemma, who had been filming matters generally, filmed this from a reasonable distance, but was nevertheless grabbed by the arm by an officer and threatened with arrest for “obstructing a Police Officer.”
To reiterate a point which has regularly been made on this blog: merely filming an arrest is not an act of “obstruction” and nor is filming a Police Officer a criminal offence.
After the protest had concluded, the anti-hunt group decided they would leave the area because they were concerned by the escalating bad behaviour from the pro-hunt group, and commenced walking back to their cars.
As the group were walking back to their cars, a large number of the pro-hunt group followed them. The pro-hunt group continued to shout insults and threats.
Police officers were still in attendance, and clearly identifying the threat, escorted the anti-hunt group back to their cars, which was the right thing to do.
From Police Protection to an Assault on a Protestor
Two female members of the pro-hunt group started to goad Gemma, including by asking her to stroke the fur coat which one of them was wearing. When this failed to get a rise out of my client, the two women then physically attacked her – one by grabbing Gemma’s wrist and lashing out at her face, the other grabbing Gemma’s head, knocking her cap off in the process and pulling her hair. Gemma then pushed the women away from her, in an act of self- defence.
These events were witnessed, at close- range, by Police officers, who intervened to protect Gemma from the aggressors: both of the women who had attacked Gemma were arrested for affray.
Meanwhile, my client was escorted by Officers into a nearby bus shelter. She initially believed that this was simply for her protection, and when the officers asked if she would be willing to provide a statement, she confirmed that she would, and provided her personal details, naturally believing that she was being treated as the victim of the incident.
Can the Police Detain You Without Arresting You?
However, when Gemma then attempted to leave the bus shelter, she was stopped from doing so by PC Holmes. He informed Gemma that she was not allowed to leave, but did not give a reason; when my client challenged this, PC Holmes told her she was being detained under the “common law”. In this particular context, those words were meaningless, and certainly did not give rise to a lawful arrest.
Gemma, understandably, continued to protest that she was the victim, and that any detention was unlawful. In response, PC Williams now told her that she was being detained under “Section 24 of PACE” while they investigated “allegations that had been made”. This equally did not constitute a proper arrest: if you are being detained under Section 24 of PACE, which is the statutory power of arrest – the central tool in the Police’s crime-fighting arsenal – you have to be told what allegations have been made against you and what offence you are being arrested for, or the detention will be unlawful and will amount to false imprisonment.
When Is an Arrest Under Section 24 PACE Lawful?
Furthermore, any arrest will be unlawful unless it is based on reasonable suspicion of an offence, and a necessity to arrest you (as opposed to investigating the allegation by other means) and neither of those criteria were close to being satisfied here, in my opinion.
Gemma reiterated that she was the victim, and other witnesses confirmed her account; she pointed out that several of the Officers present had clearly seen the attack and that it would also have been captured on their bodyworn video cameras, i.e those officers who had immediately intervened to arrest the actual offenders.
Unfortunately, all of her representations fell on deaf ears, including her offer to attend a voluntary interview so as to negate any alleged necessity to arrest, and the bus shelter continued to be used as a temporary prison cell.
From Unlawful Detention to Arrest for Affray
Finally, at the end of approximately 10 minutes of this “non-specific detention” my client was informed by PC Williams that she was under arrest for affray (in relation to the incident in which she had actually been attacked) and she was taken hold of and conveyed to Eastbourne Custody centre, where the circumstances of her arrest were very inaccurately recorded as follows –
“DP [Detained Person] was a participant in a hunt taking place in Lewes and officers found her in a fight with another protestor in Tesco’s car park”
Gemma was there detained for approximately three hours, during which she was incarcerated in an actual cell, and interviewed under caution, before being released – no surprise – with a decision that “no further action” was going to be taken against her.
Why Was the Victim of the Assault Arrested?
It was notable that even the arresting Officer, in his written statement, confirmed that he, “initially thought the female with me was a victim”.
No substance was ever provided in terms of exactly who changed PC William’s mind about this, or how they did it. Even if the women who had attacked Gemma had made “counter- allegations” against her, the fact remained that the incident had been fully witnessed by several officers who knew exactly what had happened.
Police Counter-Allegations, Protestors and Unlawful Arrest
Reflecting on the totality of this incident, we can observe that the Police initially did do the right thing – swiftly intervening to arrest the women committing the assault, and protect Gemma. But matters took a turn for the worst from that point with Gemma rapidly moving from the status of being protected, to being imprisoned; surprising to say the least, given that the Police do not tend to reactively arrest victims simply because the original suspect has made a “counter- allegation” and all the more so in a situation in which the assault was witnessed at close hand by officers.
I suspect that this was a result of institutional antagonism towards activists, especially those seen as “anti- Police”, combined with the common Police tactic of unlawfully detaining people whilst “finding out what has happened”, as I addressed in detail in this previous blog post.
Compensation for Unlawful Arrest and False Imprisonment
This incident was sadly not Gemma’s first experience of unlawful arrest and mistreatment at the hands of the Police; but I’m pleased to report that, also not for the first time, she has with the help of our team, won a significant legal victory in response.
Ably represented by my colleague, actions against the Police specialist solicitor Alex Nelmes, Gemma brought civil court proceedings against Sussex Police who have, without admission of liability, now agreed to pay her substantial damages, plus legal costs.
As ever, I know that it is the sense of justice being achieved, and those who misuse power being held accountable, which is the bottom line for my client.
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Contact the Expert Police Misconduct Solicitor
Iain Gould is a solicitor specialising in complaints, claims and civil actions against the Police. With over 30 years of experience and a national reputation, he has successfully sued all 43 police forces in England and Wales challenging abuse of power and securing rightful compensation
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