A policeman was forced to apologise from a church pulpit after a woman was wrongfully arrested for assault. Detective Sergeant Nick Westwood publicly said sorry to church leader Alison Richardson after a court made the Metropolitan Police pay her compensation.
Mrs Richardson, 43, was arrested at her home in Croydon, South London, in February 2008 after calling the police to stop bailiffs clamping the family car in a dispute over a fine.
But she was arrested after an officer claimed to have been punched in the face. She was convicted and given a community service order.
However, she was exonerated on appeal by a judge who queried the police’s evidence.
Mrs Richardson sued the Met, highlighting how she had to step down from her church role after losing her criminal records bureau accreditation.
On Saturday, the Met sent Mr Westwood to apologise at Greenwich Seventh Day Adventist Church in London. He said: ‘I hope that this apology goes some way to putting to rest formally and finally the upset and distress that the Richardsons as a family have had.’
In February 2008, Mrs Richardson called police to her Croydon home as bailiffs tried to clamp a car belonging to her husband Clive. They were trying to recoup a traffic penalty linked to a church minibus that was briefly registered to him.
Up to eight police officers arrived and Mrs Richardson was arrested after a woman officer claimed she had been punched in the face. The churchgoer was held in custody for eight hours before being charged with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. She was convicted after a crown court trial and a judge ordered her to work for free in the community.
But she appealed and was exonerated by another judge who questioned the police evidence and found officers had unlawfully entered her home.
Mrs Richardson then sued the Met highlighting how the case forced her to step down from her church role as she lost her criminal records bureau accreditation.
Standing in the pulpit, Mr Westwood said it is ‘only right and proper’ to apologise when mistakes are made. ‘It is not surprising when on a day to day basis there are so many police officers and so many people they come into contact with that we get things wrong occasionally,' he said. ‘It is only right and proper that when we make mistakes and errors we are willing to apologise and put those mistakes right.’
His four-minute speech was punctuated with shouts of ‘Amen’ and murmurs of approval before ending with an embrace from the Richardsons.
Speaking afterwards, Mrs Richardson, who has three daughters, said: ‘I felt that the apology was humble and genuine. ‘The apology was necessary because of the humiliation, disgrace and embarrassment that I experienced when I was arrested, charged, tried and convicted of assaulting a police officer, a false allegation of a crime that I had clearly not committed.
‘The public apology helps to heal the wounds and also to close this traumatic chapter, so that I can move forward with my family and get on with my life.’
Last night, Mrs Richardson’s solicitor Terence Channer said: ‘Central to this case was Mrs Richardson’s exemplary character in contrast to the unlawful actions of the officers.’
Original report here
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