£47k police payout after false imprisonment claim
£47k police payout after false imprisonment claim
Plus: Jake Berry's new job and contested cemetery plan returns
Hello and welcome to Edition 63 of The Lancashire Lead. Some technical issues mean this didn’t go out at the normal time but after a slight panic and a lot of scrambling around… here we are after all.
We start today’s newsletter with a case which started with a woman calling 999 for help and ended with her receiving a near £50k payout by the Lancashire Constabulary.
To make matters all the more extraordinary, a police source stressed to The Lancashire Lead that no findings have been made against the force and despite the six figure payout being agreed, no wrongdoing has been admitted.
The woman, who can only be named as Ms S, was drinking at home with her partner one night when he an argument broke out and he threatened her, prompting the 999 call.
Officers attended her home and it was Ms S who ended up being arrested in a bid to prevent a further breach of the breach.
And this is where the problems are said to have started. Ms S claims she was mocked and laughed at by the officers after being handcuffed tightly and pushed into a police van.
After arriving at the station, she says she was pushed to the floor and, due to still being handcuffed, was unable to cushion her fall and landed on her face.
A further arrest followed as she was accused of assaulting a police officer before a strip search took place. In another accusation of wrongdoing, it did not happen in a private room with only female officers but in the presence of members of the opposite sex at the main desk.
The strip search proved negative but a search of her bag found non-prescribed medicine which result in a further arrest on suspicion of possessing a Class B or C drug.
Ms S was interviewed the next day and, according to her solicitors at Irvings Law, she was told no further action was being taken in relation to the breach of peace but she was released under investigation in relation to the other allegations.
Matthew McConville, of Irvings, was instructed to take on her case and described the alleged wrongdoing - which includes no bodycam or CCTV footage being preserved after her initial immediate complaint - and action was launched against the force.
After Mr McConville requested an update to the ongoing investigations into Ms S, she was cautioned for the drugs offence and told no further action would be taken against the rest.
His claim to the force covered human rights infringements, false imprisonment and assault/battery, Mr McConville requested an update from them in regards to the outstanding criminal and complaint investigations.
Only when Mr McConville reached out to Lancashire Constabulary did they given Ms S no further action in regards to the assaulting a police constable allegation and a caution in respect of the possession of a Class B or C drug; they also then investigated Ms S’ complaint which was dismissed save for the acceptance that vital bodycam and/or cctv footage ought to have been preserved.
According to Mr McConville, the force initially refused to accept the claims and as a result, Ms S followed the advice to launch court proceedings. Ten days before the trial was due to begin, Lancashire Constabulary offered to settle the case out of court and agreed a payout of £47,500.
A police spokesperson said: “The case was settled out of court but there was no admission of liability and no finding either.”
In an unrelated case, the force will hold a misconduct hearing today to deal with a PC who was jailed after sharing distressing videos of a dying man’s body.
Cameron Lee Hanson was working as a response constable in East Division when he was called to a crime scene in Pendle in October 2021. There, James O'Hara had been punched and sustained injuries which would lead to his death in hospital days later.
Mr Hanson took a series of video clips to send to his wife, Kirstie - who also worked for the force.. She in turn showed them to a third member of policing staff - Charlotte Riley - who showed them to two more officers.
These officers reported what they had been shown and the trio were quickly suspended and investigated. Both Hansons, of Packington Brook, Oswaldtwistle, were jailed, while Riley received a suspended sentence.
Today, an accelerated misconduct hearing will hear of his conviction for seven counts of misconduct in public office and to two counts of unauthorised access to a computer system. Expect a gross misconduct finding and for the disgraced officer to be banned from policing for life.
Last week, it was reported than ex-Preston MP and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace had landed a new job advising Saudi Arabia on reform, governance and security. Now, another of Lancashire’s long serving and recently departed MPs has used his Westminster experience to bag a lucrative new role.
Sir Jake Berry - who represented Rossendale and Darwen from 2010 to 2014 - has announced his appointment as chief operating officer of Fullbrook Strategies. Set up by Liz Truss’ former chief of staff Mark Fullbrook, the company lists its services as including ‘government relations’, ‘election services’ and reputation management. Announcing his appointment, Sir Jake said:
It’s a hard working team, they bring over 100 years of combined experience, offering unparalleled expertise in election campaigns, communications, strategic counsel, media engagement, and government relations.
Whether you're navigating complex political environments or mobilising support at grassroot levels, our comprehensive approach equips you with everything you need to achieve success.
Mr Fullbrook has a long history with the Conservative Party, having been its deputy head of campaigning for four years under Margaret Thatcher and John Major before advising both Boris Johnson and Truss in their successful campaigns for party leadership. He is also married to former South Ribble MP Lorraine Fullbrook, who was made a life peer by Johnson in 2020.
One of the issues which has dominated attention is East Lancashire over recent years is the prospect of a new cemetery being built in Oswaldtwistle and Blackburn. It’s something I’ve wrote about previously as those opposed to the development discussed fears over traffic, parking, a lack of necessity, and loss of Greenbelt Land.
The developer behind the plan is the Issa Foundation - the charity run by the billionaire Issa brothers. Mohsin and Zuber, who made their fortune through building an empire of garage forecourts before expanding to buy the likes of Asda, want to create a burial ground on a site near the M65 bridge well away from any houses but face fierce opposition.
The original plans included 84 acres of land, 35,000 burial plots and 660 parking spaces but were withdrawn amid a backlash from residents and a consultation was later created to discuss the idea of scaled down plans. That revised planning application has now been formally submitted and includes a reduced 45 acres, cuts 12,250 plots and 387 parking spots.
It will have a single pavilion and as originally planned be open to burials for people of all faiths from the wider East Lancashire area.
The foundation hopes the reduction in size, re-siting and other changes will allay local people’s fears but Hyndburn Council Conservative group leader Cllr Zak Khan said he and residents in his St Oswald’s ward remained ‘adamantly opposed’ to the project.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service:
“I remain adamantly opposed to this cemetery. We don’t want it. We don’t need it.
“The people of Oswaldtwistle are in a state of anxiety and upset at these proposals. If the Issa Foundation thinks it’s public engagement has been successful they are exceptionally misguided.
“Reducing the size of this cemetery does not make it any more acceptable.”
A spokesperson for the foundation described the submission as a “significant milestone in the foundation’s mission to create a final resting place that embodies serenity, respect, and natural beauty”.
They said it followed a “successful” public engagement and that feedback from residents and the council had been “invaluable in re-shaping the final design”. The spokesperson continued:
“The proposed memorial garden will offer a peaceful and tranquil environment where friends and families can visit their loved ones in a calming, reflective setting.While this cemetery would address a Muslim need it would be open to people of all faiths.
“The memorial garden will feature well-maintained grounds, uniform graves, and a harmonious blend of evolving natural beauty. The inclusion of a pavilion will further enhance the memorial garden’s welcoming atmosphere, providing a space for reflection and contemplation.
“The changes already made to the original plan reflect the feedback from both the local community and the local authority.
“The Issa Foundation believes that this memorial garden will not only meet the needs of those seeking a peaceful final resting place for their loved ones but will also serve as a beautiful green space for the wider community.”
There’s very few parts of the country which haven’t been affected by bank closures and it’s seems we’re never far away from more being announced. While the shift to online and phone banking has significantly reduced footfall, if you have elderly relatives who are less keen or able to adapt, then you’ll know how important it is to have a physical space and an actual person to speak with.
Various efforts have been made to deal with this, such as directing people to their nearest Post Office and a rollout of so-called banking hubs. These offer services such as paying in cash and cheques, paying utility bills, topping up gas and electricity, and withdrawing cash.
The hubs are designed to plug the gap left by branch closures but, Paul Faulkner reports, are not being rolled out quickly enough in Lancashire.
Paul writes that according to county councillors, the county needs more in order to maintain a face-to face service in town centres deserted by the banks that used to dominate them.
So far only two of the facilities have launched in the county, while another four are in the pipeline. The hubs provide a range of banking services that used to be taken for granted on most high streets until the collapse in branch numbers which began around a decade ago.
However, unlike the outlets that they seek to at least partially recreate, the new hubs serve all customers, no matter who they actually bank with. They have been set up for those people and businesses who either need or prefer to deal in cash, as well as to maintain bank access for elderly and disabled residents who might find it difficult or undesirable to make the switch to digital banking.
At a meeting of Lancashire County Council, members unanimously agreed to establish a working group to explore how the creation of banking hubs could be accelerated in the areas most affected by the dismantling of the branch network.
County Cllr Matthew Maxwell-Scott, who brought forward the proposal, said: “With the exception, perhaps, of our largest towns, the bank is finished…but banking isn’t – and this is a way of keeping it going.”
He added that “some pressure” should be put on Cash Access UK, the organisation that owns the new hubs – which are run by and use the branding of the Post Office – to speed up the delivery of the facilities in Lancashire.
“The decline of the high street bank is perhaps something that we mourn, but ultimately, as a consumer, I don’t want to be paying for bricks and mortar that don’t really deliver anything that I need, that then results in higher fees and charges.
“But…for those who do require more support – often older citizens [and] those who run cash small businesses – they still need the [services] of…a high street bank. The banking hubs effectively replicate those,” said County Cllr Maxwell Scott, who represents Lancaster Rural East, and added that the new facilities would also be a boost to town centre businesses.
The only two hubs so far to have opened in Lancashire are in Barnoldswick and Great Harwood. Others are planned for Bacup, Darwen, Kirkham and Morecambe – with expected opening dates of February and September 2025 having already been announced for Bacup and Morecambe, respectively.
Banking hubs open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, and some have ‘community bankers’ from individual bank brands who visit on a set day, so that customers can speak to someone from their own bank about more complicated enquiries.
More than 6,000 bank branches have closed across the UK since 2015, according to figures published by the consumer group Which earlier this year.
Great Harwood, Rishton and Clayton-le-Moors county councillor Noordad Aziz told the meeting that the next issue that needed to be dealt with was the availability of cash outside of the hours of the banking hubs.
“If you look at the number of free-to-use cash machines that have disappeared from our high streets across the county, they are significant,” he said, adding that those machines which levy a fee for use can charge “a significant amount of money.”
😡 A driver has been fined £100 for stopping on double red lines in a car park for 32 seconds (BBC).
🏃 A 72-year-old marathon-running, ambulance volunteer who fundraises in his daughter’s memory has been nominated for a Pride of Britain award (Blog Preston).
🏊 The site of the closed Daisyfield Pools complex will not be sold once demolished, councillors have been told (LancsLive).
🚨 Another man has been jailed for the role he played in the disorder in Blackpool on August 3 (Blackpool Lead).
🪷 Villagers in Heysham are celebrating after winning two Britain in Bloom awards (Beyond Radio).
🔥 Organisers of the Blackburn Charity Bonfire are appealing for donations of wood to enable them to put on the big show (Lancashire Telegraph).
🤷 Disgruntled runners still chasing organisers of a city run over a month after the event have branded the situation ‘a joke’ (Blog Preston).
Thanks for reading Edition 63 of The Lancashire Lead and I’ll be back on Sunday with the next issue. If you’re able to, please consider taking a paid subscription to support my work and access exclusive features.
