Background

Mr Matthew McConville, the Head of our specialised Actions Against the Police and Data Breach Department at Irvings Law has successfully represented Mr E (whom wishes to remain anonymous for the purposes of this blog) in his data breach compensation claim against the Metropolitan Police after they lost Mr E’s interview tape.

In June 2018, Mr E was arrested by PC Page on suspicion of common assault and was detained at Bromley Police Station where he was interviewed about the allegations made against him. Mr E was interviewed by DC Purcell and PC Hughes and it was so digitally recorded.

During the course of the interview, Mr E was asked to confirm his full name, date of birth and he was asked questions about allegations of common assault against his children. Mr E gave answers that furnished constables with information about himself, his relationship with his children, his parenting choices, including how he disciplined his children, and the nature of his employment.

In February 2019, Mr E lodged a formal complaint with the Metropolitan Police about his arrest and treatment in custody which was not upheld and so he lodged an appeal against that decision with the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) which also was not upheld.  However, as part of the complaint process, Mr E submitted a subject access request to the Metropolitan Police and their Data Protection Unit confirmed that they could not locate the recording of Mr E’s post-arrest interview and as such considered it as lost.

Representation

Once informed of this, Mr E approached specialist Actions Against the Police/Data Protection Solicitor, Mr McConville and without hesitation no win, no fee terms were offered. Once instructed, Mr McConville lodged a formal Letter of Claim to the Metropolitan Police and alleged that they had breached/invaded Mr E’s privacy under the Human Rights Act, had breached the Data Protection Act 2018 / the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as confidence following their misuse of private information pertaining to Mr E.

Resolution

Upon receipt of this, the Metropolitan Police admitted breach and Mr E later settled his claim for £6,000.00 in total.