Hackney police guilty of assault (1)
01 January 1991
Hackney police guilty of assault
artdoc June=1992
Following allegations of racism and corruption and demands for
a judicial inquiry into Hackney police (see Statewatch Vol 2 no
2) the force has come under further criticism following the award
of Ã50,000 to a black woman, Mrs Marie Burke at Croydon Crown
Court.
Mrs Burke, a 73 year old grandmother, was assaulted,
maliciously prosecuted and falsely imprisoned by the police after
her husband was arrested at the family home in east London
following a minor traffic accident in January 1989. The accident
was reported by a family friend who claimed he was driving the
car at the time but the police, when they arrived at the Burke's
home, accused Mrs Burke's husband of being the driver and
arrested him. Marie Burke was pulled to the ground and held down
by three officers when she tried to give her disabled husband his
diabetes tablets.
At the police station Mrs Burke was searched and charged with
assault although her husband was not charged with any offence.
The charges against her were dropped two days later and she sued
the Metropolitan Police in a civil action. Her award (which
included Ã20,000 for the assault, Ã15,000 for malicious
prosecution and Ã15,000 for false imprisonment) is one of the
highest made against the Metropolitan Police.
The Burkes are the grandparents of Trevor Monerville, a young
black man who was arrested by Stoke Newington police in 1987 and
who subsequently `disappeared' only to be located in Brixton
Prison four days later, where he was found to have a blood clot
on his brain. Following surgery, which left him with a loss of
memory and suffering from fits, he was subjected to a series of
controversial arrests, none of which resulted in conviction.
Following the award Scotland Yard issued a statement saying
that no action was to be taken against the officers involved in
the assault because `..no allegations against officers were
substantiated.' In a letter to the Guardian newspaper Chief
Superintendent Bernard Taffs, of Hackney and City Road Police
Stations, wrote: `Much compassion was shown by individual police
officers towards Mr and Mrs Burke at the time and later in
court.'
In a separate incident a black man Rodney Pilgrim, and his
cousin Valerie Marche, accepted Ã20,000 in an out-of-court
settlement from the Metropolitan Police following their arrest
and detention at Dalston Police station in December 1988. The
couple were being driven in a car which was stopped for speeding
when police accused Mr Pilgrim of throwing cannabis out of the
window. At the police station he was strip-searched and arrested
for possession; when she protested Ms Marche was charged with
obstruction. The charges were later dropped.
There are a number of other civil actions against police in the
area still pending and it is estimated that they have already
paid over Ã125,000 in awards so far this year.
Hackney Gazette 21.2.92; Guardian 18.2.92, 20.3.92, 6.4.92;
Independent 20.3.92, 21.3.92
Statewatch, vol 2, no 3, May-June 1992
p