Gunner: My Life in Cricket

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Despite Jervon not resisting, the officers continued to restrain him in a prone position on the floor of the Building Society, with his hands handcuffed behind his back. By this stage, Imran felt sick and was distressed not only as regards his own predicament, but also that of his family. A very similar experience also befell my client Zac Sharif-Ali, a black man of Somalian heritage, at the hands of Metropolitan Police in 2020, as I will address in this week’s blog post.

Section 17 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) extends the power of entry, without a warrant, to a Constable intending to arrest a person for a Section 4 offence, but not a Section 5 offence.However, Jervon begins this New Year substantially better off than the last one, as I have just settled his claim against the Met for a five-figure sum of damages, but, more importantly, I have helped him to make his voice heard, to achieve accountability from those in power and a sense of justice being done; because despite the way the Police treated him, he is, like all of us, a first-class citizen. An investigation took place but it was concluded at an early stage that there was no evidence of a crime being committed.

PS Rees then stated that Zac was “detained” and in a menacing tone told Zac that he better do as he was told, otherwise he would “have a problem”.

But my considered assessment was now that there never was a basis to arrest, and the Police reluctance to conduct an interview just bore that out; after all, what do you interview a suspect about, when you have no real reason to suspect him of anything? The intentions behind the “Clare’s Law” system are certainly admirable – but those who have the “right to ask” should also have the right to expect that the answers they receive are completely accurate, whilst those whose personal data is in the hands of the Police, must have the right to know that it is not being corrupted by egregious mistakes. As he exited the plane, Ross was obliged to show his passport, whereupon he was arrested by Police Officers for ‘failing to attend’ Hastings Magistrates’ Court in April 2023. In reality, it is a trick or a bluff – an Officer relying on the pseudo-authority of his uniform and Police ‘persona’ to try and make someone obey him, when he lacks the legal authority to do so.