– We secured a settlement of £19,250 for our client RB arising out of 13 days false imprisonment – a case of mistaken identity where the police initially thought he was his own twin brother.
Our client, who was on bail on tag while standing trial for an offence, was unlawfully arrested by MPS on the mistaken belief that he was his own twin. He spent 3 hours in custody after which the error was identified, when they took his fingerprints and realised it was not in fact his brother. However he was then arrested for breaching bail conditions. He was produced next day for court who ordered his release on bail immediately but due an error his paperwork still had his brothers details on it, so that he was sent to prison at HMP Wandsworth for 13 days. On the first day he was told he was not supposed to be there and he would be released imminently. However nothing happened the next day, or the next. He insisted during the whole time he was there on accident, but no one believed him, until 13 days later. This caused a deterioration in his mental health from which he sadly still suffers. The Metropolitan police settled the claim for the initial unlawful arrest for £1,250 and the Ministry of Justice awarded him a further £ 18,000 for his further detention at Wandsworth. Solicitor with conduct was Bhaskar Banerjee.
