Undercurrents wins against police
undercurrents | 22.01.2002 17:23
Reporters win £18,000 payout after wrongful arrest
Monday January 21, 2002
Two British journalists and an Italian fashion photographer have won £18,000 in compensation from Thames Valley Police after being wrongfully arrested while covering an animal rights protest in Oxford.
Roddy Mansfield, a freelance broadcast journalist for independent TV producer Undercurrents, Nick Cobbing from Stern magazine and Allesandro Nani of FI-CREA Florence won the payout after a three-year battle.
The trio were detained when trying to leave a police cordon at a protest in December 1998 at the notorious Hillgrove cat farm outside Oxford.
After being allowed through the cordon they were handcuffed and had their equipment and footage confiscated. They were then held in custody for 20 hours.
After initially declaring the claim for compensation to be "spurious and wholly without foundation", Thames Valley police have now settled.
Evidence shown to police lawyers included video footage proving that the journalists had been told that they were free to leave the cordon.
Mansfield said the case was a victory for a campaign by the National Union of Journalists to establish that journalists carrying press accreditation should be free to operate without restraint at marches, protests and other events which represent a potential threat to public order.
Cobbing said: "The case took three years out of my life to get this result including time spent wading through video footage and in meetings with lawyers and meetings about lawyers.
"If I'd spent that time taking pictures I could have earned twice as much. So the result wasn't about money; it's about challenging bad policing and about defending the right to report".
The issue of police treatment of the press at demonstrations has become a controversial subject in recent years as police use increasingly heavyhanded tactics to restrain protesters.
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: "We can confirm we have agreed to pay compensation. The terms have yet to be conveyed to the claimants."
Monday January 21, 2002
Two British journalists and an Italian fashion photographer have won £18,000 in compensation from Thames Valley Police after being wrongfully arrested while covering an animal rights protest in Oxford.
Roddy Mansfield, a freelance broadcast journalist for independent TV producer Undercurrents, Nick Cobbing from Stern magazine and Allesandro Nani of FI-CREA Florence won the payout after a three-year battle.
The trio were detained when trying to leave a police cordon at a protest in December 1998 at the notorious Hillgrove cat farm outside Oxford.
After being allowed through the cordon they were handcuffed and had their equipment and footage confiscated. They were then held in custody for 20 hours.
After initially declaring the claim for compensation to be "spurious and wholly without foundation", Thames Valley police have now settled.
Evidence shown to police lawyers included video footage proving that the journalists had been told that they were free to leave the cordon.
Mansfield said the case was a victory for a campaign by the National Union of Journalists to establish that journalists carrying press accreditation should be free to operate without restraint at marches, protests and other events which represent a potential threat to public order.
Cobbing said: "The case took three years out of my life to get this result including time spent wading through video footage and in meetings with lawyers and meetings about lawyers.
"If I'd spent that time taking pictures I could have earned twice as much. So the result wasn't about money; it's about challenging bad policing and about defending the right to report".
The issue of police treatment of the press at demonstrations has become a controversial subject in recent years as police use increasingly heavyhanded tactics to restrain protesters.
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: "We can confirm we have agreed to pay compensation. The terms have yet to be conveyed to the claimants."
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