Guilty until proven innocent — is this the norm in today’s UK?

David Prior, former MP for Norfolk North, was arrested in a dawn raid for a crime he did not commit. Here he describes how the experience has affected his view of justice



The first sentence of Franz Kafka’s novel The Trial has a chilling simplicity. “Somebody must have made a false accusation against Joseph K for he was arrested one morning without having done anything wrong.” I was also arrested one morning, having done nothing wrong. It was just after 6.15am on Tuesday, November 14, last year. Several resounding bangs on the front door woke me and, from our bedroom window, my wife Caroline saw five uniformed police officers. Our immediate reaction was that our teenage daughter, Helena, must have been in a car accident. Thank God she hadn’t. Instead, I was arrested for alleged involvement in a fraud at a psychiatric hospital where I had been the nonexecutive chairman.

One of the officers inquired if he should put “cuffs on him”. Fortunately, I was judged sufficiently wimpish to make this unnecessary. I was allowed to brush my teeth, shave and get dressed — with an officer in attendance. My office was secured, files taken and my computer removed. It was not returned until January 25, 2007. The journey to the police station took about half an hour. Psychologically, I already felt like a criminal. I could see my life disappearing in front of me. Saying goodbye to my wife still haunts me. The feeling got worse. I was “booked in”, with all the attendant paperwork, and my possessions were confiscated save for my glasses and shoes. I was asked a number of what were described as standard questions. One of these was: did I have a history of dressing up in female clothes and impersonating women?

My fingerprints were taken and a DNA swab from my mouth. By now it was about 7.30am and I was placed in a cell on my own for one-and-a-half hours. I have never felt so isolated, numb and disorientated. I wasn’t expecting tea and buttered crumpets but, by 9am, when I was taken away for my interview, I hardly felt human.

The interview lasted for three hours. I was asked whether I wanted a solicitor present. I said: “No.” I had nothing to hide. The interviewers were perfectly civilised. They were doing their job. I was returned to my cell and languished there until my release at 9pm. There is not a lot to do in a cell and I am indebted to the WPC who found me something to read — a Jeffrey Archer novel.

When I got home I discovered that the police had given a full media briefing at 10am. My father heard of my arrest from a friend in Singapore. It was everywhere. In the space of 24 hours I went from “respected former MP... ” to “disgraced former MP... ” I immediately stood down as chairman of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. My business life ground to a halt — just when I started to incur large legal fees. I could hardly bear to go out in public. The impact of an arrest and any attendant publicity is devastating. And I was and am totally innocent.

The investigation continued until February 13, 2007, when I was released from bail and told that I was in the clear. Many people wrongly assumed I had been charged because of the manner in which I was arrested. There was no dialogue with the police working on the investigation. Anything I said could be used against me. I found the nature of the arrest shocking and humiliating, the media coverage devastating, the pace of the investigation excruciatingly slow and the relationship between police and suspect unnecessarily confrontational.

I am, of course, much luckier than most. I have legal training, an amazing family, money and supportive friends. For many, especially from poor backgrounds, an arrest can be an even more terrifying ordeal. I do not accept, as some maintain, that we live in a police state. But we do live at a time when police powers have grown greatly in response to both terrorism and the growth of violent and organised crime. A surprising number of people have suffered an experience similar to my own. It is, perhaps sadly, inevitable that more and more innocent people will be arrested.

So it is especially important that the initial arrest and the investigation are carried out sensitively. Dawn raids should be exceptional, media coverage kept to a minimum, suspects treated with respect and the investigation as expeditious as possible. And the threshold for making an arrest should be high. The present system is an affront to the notion that we are all innocent until proven guilty and to any notion of fairness or justice. It needs reform. It is easy to ignore the issue because this kind of thing only happens “to other people”. It happened to me. It could happen to you.

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