A police force paid compensation to a man who was arrested and locked in the cells having voluntarily attended at the station himself for questioning.
The man, who had been called by the police that day, arrived at the front desk of the station as requested, only to be arrested by an officer and detained.
He remained in police cells for five hours, until his solicitor arrived, before a 20-minute interview took place and he was released after his false imprisonment.
The man had been questioned over allegedly breaching a court order.
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Hudgells Comments
Civil Liberties specialist Vicky Richardson secured compensation for the man, claiming the force had falsely imprisoned him by locking him in cells for five hours after he had voluntarily attended at the station. Mrs Richardson also alleged that whilst his client was in custody, proper procedures in respect of reviewing his detention were not followed, something which the police accepted. Mrs Richardson said:
This was a case in which the police could easily have rearranged an interview for later in the afternoon when the man’s solicitor was available.
It was our case that is simply not necessary to detain our client and an interview should just have been arranged for a later time. Such a move would have ensured the investigation was still carried out promptly, and there was no suggestion of any danger to other parties to prevent this from being a suitable course of action.
Our client was detained simply for the convenience of the police force, for five hours, and that was totally unacceptable.
