Stephen Simblet KC, Joint Head of Chambers, led Daniel Grütters of 1 Pump Court Chambers, instructed by Felix Parsons and Alice See of GT Stewart Solicitors, for the claimant, Mr Watson.
On appeal in the High Court, counsel established that the trial judge had been wrong to dismiss Mr Watson’s claims of false imprisonment and assault by police.
Mr Watson had called 999 for emergency assistance and had been in a vulnerable state when police officers attended.
The police officers had put forward a positive account that Mr Watson had pointed a knife at them, then had come towards them while shouting threats and adopting an aggressive posture. At the County Court, the trial judge had rejected that case but gone on to dismiss Mr Watson’s claim.
In the appeal, Lavender J held that the judge was wrong to have done so. The trial judge had in effect found that the police officers had lied but then decided the case against Mr Watson on a basis that had neither been pleaded nor explored in evidence.
This result was contrary to the general proposition that a judge ought not to decide a case on a ground which has not been pleaded and explored in evidence. It also failed properly to consider that it is individual police officer’s grounds for their decisions, rather than the question of whether any police officer could have taken the action, being considered.
As a result, the claims in false imprisonment and assault and battery succeeded. The court is currently considering the consequences of this decision in relation to remedies.
Link to judgment: Watson v Chief Constable of Humberside [2025] EWHC 2544 (HC)
