British photophobia again

Police agree £10,000 compensation payout to builder 'arrested and pushed face down into a puddle' for taking a photograph of a bank doorway

A police force has agreed to pay £10,000 in compensation to an amateur photographer who was injured while being wrongfully arrested for taking a picture of a bank doorway, his law firm said today.

Anthony Finnegan, 49, is also expected to receive a written apology from the chief constable of West Mercia Police, David Shaw, after he claimed to have been pushed face down into a puddle by the officers who arrested him.

Neither of the officers involved has been disciplined, but Mr Finnegan's solicitors said the force had indicated it will admit liability for the incident and agree to pay him £10,000 plus his legal costs. The force will also delete all records of Mr Finnegan's arrest, said London law firm Bhatt Murphy, which specialises in civil rights cases.

A spokesman for the police force said litigation in the case remained ongoing.

Mr Finnegan, a construction worker, was arrested in July 2009 while using an SLR camera to take pictures in the centre of Shrewsbury, Shropshire. One of the photographs was of the front lobby of a high street bank in a period building.

He was approached by a police constable and a police community support officer (PCSO) who, Mr Finnegan said, asked why he was taking 'discreet photographs' of a bank. 'I said: "There's nothing discreet about this, it's an SLR camera. If I was being discreet I'd use a phone",' Mr Finnegan told the Guardian.

Mr Finnegan said that the constable then began searching his pockets, so he suggested they go to a police station, partly because he was not carrying any identification but also because he was embarrassed to be searched publicly in his home town.

As they walked to the station, Mr Finnegan claims he was shoved, had his thumb pulled back sharply by the constable, and was eventually pushed to the ground.

Mr Finnegan said: 'He grabbed me in a thumb lock and I pulled away from him, going: "What are you doing?" I got taken to the ground, face down into a puddle, and the PCSO, who's about 18 stone, his knee went into my ribs, which cracked or broke the back of my ribs.' A doctor's examination later found other injuries, including abrasions and bruising.

Mr Finnegan was handcuffed and driven to another police station, where he was told he had been arrested for a public order offence and placed in a cell. He was released at about 9pm, seven hours after he was stopped. He learned two months later that he would face no further action.

Mr Finnegan's solicitor Fiona Murphy said: 'We welcome the chief constable's decision to admit liability, to apologise and to destroy the records of Mr Finnegan's detention.

'We hope that this complete resolution of the claim will enable the force to learn lessons from this regrettable abuse of police powers.'

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: 'This is a live matter subject to ongoing litigation and it would therefore be inappropriate to comment further at this time.'

Original report




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