Cops Pay For More Than A Graze

Police pay out for assault on activist

5th May 2000

Essex Police paid a £9000 out of court settlement in early May to a direct activist who was beaten up by its officers.

Thirty four year old science teacher, Bryce Wilby, suffered a broken nose and cuts to his face after being handcuffed and thrown into the back of a police van during a demonstration against live animal exports in Brightlingsea in 1995. Essex Police subsequently tried to prosecute Bryce for assault and affray but magistrates found him not guilty.

There is increasing concern over the matter-of-course regularity with which police officers prosecute people they have assaulted in order to deflect prosecution themselves. Despite the out of court settlement being an unusually large one, Essex Police still claim the payment doesn't mean they did it.

For an analysis of the Council of Europe's damning report on the accountability of British Police, check Who's Policing The Police in the SQUALL features page.