Protesters Win £25,000 Injury Compensation Case Against Metropolitan Police

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23
Jul

The Met Police have apologised to two brother students and agreed to pay £25,000 in personal injury compensation.

Ashley and Russell Inglis were involved in protests at the Israeli Embassy in London on 3 January 2009 when the assaults took place.

The Metropolitan Police have apologised and paid £12,500 each to the twin brothers for the unprovoked assaults which took place by police officers in the course of the protests outside the Israeli Embassy in London.

Ashley Inglis initially wanted an apology from the police and complained to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and the Met.

The Met ruled that there was nothing to answer as officers could not be identified and the incident had not been filmed by the police.

So a civil injury compensation claim against the police was brought and the Met eventually conceded and sent a letter apologising for the injury. A CCTV camera at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington had captured the incident.

Russell Inglis said: “We presented no threat whatsoever to the police. We were simply exercising our democratic right to peaceful protest.”

Michael Oswald of Bhatt Murphy solicitors, the solicitor for Ashley and Russell Inglis who handled the case, said:

“The apology and the sums paid to our clients in satisfaction of their claims go some way toward the vindication and accountability they have sought.

“However, it is significant and regrettable that their attempt to achieve those objectives through the statutory police complaints system in the first instance came to nothing, and that they were required to bring their civil claims to compel the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to recognise the wrong that had been done.”

Michael Oswald is an assistant solicitor in the police law team at Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, London and works with clients who have been subjected to misconduct at the hands of the state.

The focus of his work is to enable his clients to achieve the redress they seek for the misconduct they have been subjected to.

Ashley Inglis was one of 17 complaints during a month of pro-Palestinian demonstrations which were filed with the Independent Police Complaints Commission. All were referred to the Met DPS- Directorate of Professional Standards.

None resulted in any disciplinary action against an officer.

The brothers claimed they were attacked without reason and suffered blows to the head. They proved they were presenting no threat at the time and were exercising a basic democratic right to protest. They claim the police who hit them tried to cover up the identifying numbers on their shoulders.

It was also reported at the time that the demonstration was not entirely peaceful on behalf of all protesters as video coverage showed. The Metropolitan Police suffered injuries to 55 of their officers that day.

76 people were arrested and charged with several offences, including violent disorder, during the series of Gaza demonstrations.

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