Attack victim wins case against police station closure
Lecturer persuades court he was saved after brutal assault because officers were only minutes away
CLOSED police stations could be forced to reopen after a university professor who was almost beaten to death won a court battle in London. Paul Kohler, who was the victim of a violent attack in 2014, lost a High Court challenge against the closure of more than half of the police stations in the capital.
But the university lecturer won his case against a decision to close Wimbledon station, which he argued saved his life after officers were able to come to his aid eight minutes after the attack.
Mr Kohler said the proximity of the station, which was marked for closure in 2017, helped him survive a brutal raid on his home after his daughter called 999 and police came straight away. Two judges said the decision to close the station in Wimbledon, including the counter which had been open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, was unlawful and should be reconsidered on the grounds that residents were not properly consulted. The Mayor decided to close 37 of the 73 London police stations amid claims that keeping them open would threaten front-line policing because of budget constraints.
After the ruling by Lord Justice Lindblom and Mr Justice Lewis, Mr Kohler said he was “pleased” about the decision reached by the court in relation to Wimbledon, but was “only sorry we did not have similar evidence in respect of the other police stations”.
Tessa Gregory, of the law firm Leigh Day, who represented Mr Kohler, said: “Our client is delighted that the court has today quashed the decision of the Mayor’s Office to close and sell his local police station in Wimbledon. Whilst the court did not consider it had the necessary evidence to quash the decision to close other police stations across London, it was highly critical in its judgment of the way in which the whole consultation was conducted.”
Mr Kohler’s legal team argued that closing police station counters and disposing of the premises was “unlawful” because of a “lack of information and lack of clarity” during the consultation process.
They said he was saved by the bravery of officers from his local police station, and believed the outcome would have been “much worse” if they had been unable to reach him quickly.
A spokesman for the Mayor said: “On just one point, the court has required Mopac [Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime] to reconsider the closure of Wimbledon police station and Mopac will do this in due course.”