On 22 May 2014, my client Oluwatoyin Binta Shinnel Azeez was at her home in Bradford with her young children (aged between 1 – 13), when officers from West Yorkshire Police came to her property, demanding to speak to Ms Azeez’s lodger (the teenage son of a family friend). Previous visits to Ms Azeez’s home by the Police to check on the lodger, had passed entirely peacefully, but on this occasion the lead officer, PC Hulse, forced his way into the premises as soon as Ms Azeez answered the door to him, pushing her to the floor in the process.
Ms Azeez, a law-abiding person of good character had willingly answered the door to PC Hulse, and the violence which he then displayed was completely unjustified.
Ms Azeez, in a state of considerable distress, protested to PC Hulse that he had no right to enter her house in such a manner. She was at the time, dressed only in a loose-fitting kaftan, having been showering when the Police first knocked at the door. She now asked PC Hulse to leave, whereupon he pushed her in the chest, making contact with her breast, and again knocked her to the floor. Now even more outraged and distressed, Ms Azeez got to her feet and demanded that PC Hulse leave; in response he viciously assaulted her, grabbing her by the neck and pushing her against the wall.
PC Hulse then escalated the assault by spraying CS incapacitant gas into her face at close range, and without warning. The gas spread throughout the close confines of the house, and also began to affect Ms Azeez’s young children who were watching in horror.
PC Hulse then dragged Ms Azeez outside and then handcuffed her.
Ms Azeez was then transported to her local Police station where the Custody Sergeant refused to authorise her detention on the grounds that PC Hulse had no right to enter Ms Azeez’s premises and accordingly she was released.
Following the institution of Court proceedings and just 2 weeks before trial, West Yorkshire Police agreed a settlement of £25,000 in damages, plus her legal costs and a formal apology from the Assistant Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police.
Also read: Why don’t the police say sorry?
