Student cuffed when PC mistook £1 gift to beggar for drug deal
WHEN George Wilson spotted a homeless man shivering on a winter’s night, he did not hesitate to hand over a £1 coin.
But his gesture led to him being clapped in handcuffs after police mistook the kindness for a drug deal.
Now he has won a £5,000 payout after successfully arguing he was unlawfully detained.
The student, 20, was outraged after officers held him even though he repeatedly protested his innocence. He also claimed that one policeman threatened to falsify a statement saying he was drunk and disorderly.
But more than a year after his ordeal, he was finally vindicated after Merseyside Police admitted he was wrongly detained. Mr Wilson had been on a night out with friends in Liverpool city centre. He handed the homeless man £1 as he left the Heebie Jeebies nightclub at around 2am on January 11 last year.
But officers thought the pair were swapping drugs and swooped. Even after the Liverpool John Moores University student explained he was helping the man, they put him in handcuffs. He managed to make a voice recording of the incident on his phone, which he used to argue he was held unlawfully.
On the recording Mr Wilson can be heard saying that he was ‘a student of the law’.
The officer then replied: ‘Look, buddy, if I lock you up for being drunk and disorderly, because that’s what you are being, you won’t be a student of the law any more. I’ll take that off you.
‘So shut your mouth and stop being stupid.’
The student replied: ‘I haven’t committed disorder. I’ve been polite. I’ve been respectful.’ Mr Wilson said the police officer then said: ‘That’s not how I’ll write it up, pal.’
He was detained under the Misuse of Drugs Act but it was later established no drug deal had taken place and he was told to walk away.
Mr Wilson, who now works for Bentley Motors, said: ‘It was a relief to settle the claim, although it wasn’t all upheld so I still feel in a way proper justice wasn’t found.’ He claims the policeman’s comments suggested he planned to falsify a statement saying he was drunk and disorderly. Merseyside Police called the officer to a misconduct meeting, where he said he was not threatening to falsify a statement but saying he did not accept Mr Wilson’s denial of being drunk and disorderly.
The force’s investigation concluded the words could be interpreted differently and the officer was advised not to use them again. It was also upheld that once the homeless man had been searched and no drugs were found, Mr Wilson should have been released.
Mr Wilson’s lawyer Adam Quick said: ‘The comments and language used by the officer were shocking. It is important that the public are made aware that they do not have to accept such treatment by police officers.’
A Merseyside Police spokesman said it was ‘committed to the highest integrity and professional standards’.