Met Police to pay damages over arrest

The Metropolitan Police have been ordered to pay damages to a French publisher arrested under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, the BBC reported. 

Ernest Moret was travelling to the London Book Fair in 2023, when he was stopped at St Pancras station by police. Officers asked about demonstrations he had attended in France and took his phone and laptop.

He was detained for more than 24 hours. 

Schedule 7 is an exceptional counter-terrorism power which enables police at ports to examine individuals entering or leaving the UK, in order to determine whether they are terrorists, and without any grounds for suspicion.

Officers can detain up to a maximum of six hours, search, seize devices, require cooperation (including passwords to devices) and take biometrics.

A person who is examined must give any information in his possession which the examining officer requests. It is an offence, punishable by up to 3 months’ imprisonment or a fine, to fail to comply with this duty. However, a person may only be convicted where the exercise of the Schedule 7 power was lawful.

The independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, said the questioning was unnecessary, and called the interviews conducted "exaggerated and overbearing."

Hall said: "This was an investigation into public order for which counter-terrorism powers were never intended to be used. 

"The rights of free expression and protest are too important in a democracy to allow individuals to be investigated for potential terrorism merely because they may have been involved in protests that have turned violent."

Moret sued the Met Police for compensation for misfeasance in public office and for false imprisonment. He has agreed to settle for a five-figure sum.