Not a long post – just a short note about damages awarded in a recent police civil action of (1) Stewart (2) Chergui v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2017] EWHC 921 (QB). Now updated to include the costs decision.
€10,000 for excessive force during arrest (and subsequent failure to investigate this)
In Gedrimas v Lithuania [2016] ECHR 641; (2017) 64 EHRR 14, the European Court of Human Rights held that where police officers used excessive force during an arrest and there was a subsequent failure to investigate the resulting complaint, both matters amounted to a breach of Article 3, justifying damages of €10,000. The case follows the recent decision of Bouyid v Belgium [2015] ECHR 819; (2016) 62 EHRR 32, which held that any use of force by police officers which is not strictly necessary will amount to a breach of Article 3.
Damages for unlawful arrest, consequent assault and unlawful detention
- The High Court assessed damages for three Claimants at £2,500, £11,950 and £7,000.
- Police officers’ denying the allegations against them during disciplinary investigations and a criminal trial could not sound in aggravated damages;
- No damages for being cross-examined robustly by the officers’ counsel in criminal proceedings.