Better than Poirot...

Ollivierre & Others v The Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police (2010) was a Central London County Court Decision from His Honour Judge Collender QC.

A recent case examines the threshold for arrest and the requirement of objective reasonable grounds for suspicion.

Background

On 7 May 2005, Mary-Ann Leneghan and her friend, referred to throughout as "M", were victims of one of the most disturbing crimes that Thames Valley Police have seen in recent years. In a botched revenge attack, the girls, aged 16 and 18 respectively, were kidnapped and taken to a hotel in Reading. There, they were raped, tortured and forced to take drugs. The girls were then driven to a park, where Mary-Ann was stabbed over 40 times and M was shot in the head. Mary-Ann died but, miraculously, her friend survived.

A massive investigation was implemented by Thames Valley Police, as they raced to preserve vital forensic evidence before it was contaminated, lost or the offenders escaped. Six men were ultimately convicted in Reading Crown Court in 2007 and sentenced to between 23 and 27 years imprisonment each. As part of the investigation, three wholly innocent members of the public were also arrested, as it was believed at the time that they could have been involved. They each brought a claim against Thames Valley Police for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment, although one of these claims was dropped shortly before trial.

The Claimants' Case

The claimants asserted that, on the basis of the investigation, no reasonable grounds for their arrest existed. Both the first and second claimants were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. They contended that the police needed to have reasonable grounds to suspect that the claimants had done an act to assist an offender, as opposed to reasonable grounds to suspect that they may have done an act to assist. There was no evidence to show that the claimants had done any such act, they argued, and therefore the threshold for arrest had not been met.

The claimants also asserted that, even if there were reasonable grounds for arrest, those grounds were not communicated to the arresting officers and, therefore, the arrests were still unlawful.

The Defendant's Case

The Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police argued that her officers had had overwhelming grounds on which to arrest the claimants on suspicion of assisting an offender. The suspects could have done any of a number of acts to assist, including providing a...