Friday 8 April 2011

Winning? I Think Not…

A teacher falsely accused of assaulting a pupil has won a landmark High Court ruling against the police for unlawful arrest.
Did they have a reason, or was this another ‘just following standard procedure’ case?
Mark Richardson was held in a police cell after an 11-year-old boy claimed the 39-year-old had punched him in the throat.

The heavy-handed police action came weeks after the alleged offence and after the boy’s parents said they did not wish to pursue the matter.

Furthermore the school said it would handle the matter internally and Mr Richardson, who voluntarily went to a police station to speak to officers, was adamant the claim was false.
Given that he was dealing with the monumentally-incompetent West Midland Police, you’d think he’d have known better…
A police spokesman said: ‘Following the court ruling West Midlands Police will launch an internal investigation into this matter to review the circumstances of the arrest and handling of the case.

Until this is completed it would be inappropriate to comment on today’s ruling or the case in question.’
They’ll have the last laugh, though:
Mr Richardson also wanted the police to be forced to destroy DNA samples, fingerprints and photographs taken from him during the arrest and to remove or amend his arrest entry on the Police National Computer.

The judge declined these requests, leaving any alteration of police records to West Midlands Police.
I guess now he’s won his case – and compensation – he can forget that

4 comments:

microdave said...

Wasn't removal of innocent people's DNA samples from the national database part of the Coalitions much vaunted "Reforms"?

Oh, I forgot, ACPO don't see why they should pay any heed of government requests....

Anonymous said...

Dear Predator

I may have mentioned before, the main purpose of the police now is to gather DNA from as many people as possible.

This contravenes our constitution, but like all else constitutional, is being systematically ignored by government and its agents.

When they have DNA samples from enough people, the argument can be made that everyone should have their DNA sampled, unless the EU doesn't make it compulsory before this critical mass is achieved.

With all or most of the public DNA'd, the opportunities for government and its agents to abuse are endless.

Remember, our 'government' are now a bunch of foreigners.

On Wednesday 6 April at 9 pm, there was a programme titled 'Nazis - A Warning From History' on a channel which appears to be called Yesterday. It documented many of the Nazi 'leaders'. I was struck by the similarities between the Nazi 'government' before the War and our current 'government' in Brussels, especially the arrogance, incompetence, total disregard for law and the treatment of the public - especially of other nations - as livestock.

Our own government and public servants seem to be infected with the same disease as the Brussels 'government'.

DP

JuliaM said...

"Wasn't removal of innocent people's DNA samples from the national database part of the Coalitions much vaunted "Reforms"?"

Like all their other election promises, clearly...

"When they have DNA samples from enough people, the argument can be made that everyone should have their DNA sampled..."

'Foot in the door' syndrome, eh? You may well be right.

Woman on a Raft said...

The retired lawyer Geoffrey Silkstone got £4000 in a similar case of wrongful arrest.

http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/local/colchester/8907840.Retired_lawyer_wins_wrongful_arrest_battle/

There might be a difference in that the Silkstone case was obvious tosh as the dispute was a civil one in which the police wrongly involved themselves.