£3000 Compensation Following Complaint Against the Police from Animal Welfare Campaigners
Police complaint case - unlawful arrest and mistreatment
Seven animal rights protesters from the Liverpool area - including a 14 year-old girl and her father – falsely arrested after a peaceful demonstration against the vivisection practices at Huntingdon Life Sciences (HSL), have each received £3,000 compensation from Cambridgeshire Police.
The out-of-court settlement was made after the group of five women and two men – plus another woman from Cheshire - collectively brought a number of charges against the police including false imprisonment, wrongful arrest, assault and battery, plus malicious prosecution.
The group had attended a peaceful march in Huntingdon town centre on 11 December 1999, before joining a small protest of around 20 people outside the home of an HSL employee in nearby Ramsey. Arriving shortly after a car window had been broken, and to find police in attendance, the group handed out leaflets and chatted briefly to other protesters before making their way back to their minibus for the journey home.
It was then that the police ordered the group and their vehicle to be searched, arresting the protesters on either charges of criminal damage, or conspiracy to cause criminal damage. Holding members of the group at various police stations for up to 12 hours, they were all later charged with harassment before being released in the early hours of the following morning. Two months later the group was informed by letter that all proceedings against them had been dropped.
For Peter Cox of Moreton, in the Wirral, and his 14 year-old daughter Michelle, it was their first animal rights protest. He is appalled by the treatment they received at the hands of Cambridgeshire Police, particularly because he was separated from his daughter after their arrest, and she was clearly very frightened by the experience:
“I cannot understand why the police arrested us, especially because they were already at the scene when we arrived, so it was obvious that we had nothing to do with the previous disturbance. We only stayed for a short time, some of the group hadn’t even left the minibus, and there was no trouble while we were there. I believe the police arrested us to show the residents that they were doing something.”
“I’m particularly shocked at the way the police treated us, not allowing us to use the toilet for the three hours that we were locked in a cell van before arriving at Thorpewood Police Station. They also held my daughter in a separate cell for hours, refusing her a blanket when she was cold, or access to a phone to call her mother.”
Acting for the group, Iftikhar Manzoor of national law firm Irwin Mitchell said:
“My clients were unlawfully searched and detained by the police. They had acted peacefully at all times and were preparing to leave when they were arrested. A search of the minibus and their belongings produced nothing incriminating, so it is hard to believe that the police felt they had any grounds for arrest. No evidence could be found to support the charge of harassment because there was none.
“This high level of compensation is for the malicious prosecution by the police, and also the substantial distress, loss and damage caused to the personal dignity and integrity of my clients by the ordeal. In the five days following their arrest, one of the group even lost half a stone in weight as a result of the stress she suffered. For some, their confidence in the police has been destroyed forever.
“This case demonstrates that this sort of behaviour by the police will not be tolerated. The general public must have the confidence to protest peacefully without fear of police reprisal, and this substantial compensation figure reflects this,” says Mr Manzoor.