£10,000 payout for man held after taking picture of bank

An amateur photographer has won £10,000 compensation from West Mercia Police after being arrested for taking a picture of a bank.

Anthony Finnegan, 45, from Castlefields, Shrewsbury, was arrested for taking a photograph of the doorway of the NatWest branch in Mardol Head in the town in July 2009 – leading to a three-year battle for justice.

The construction worker was approached by a policeman and a community support officer and asked why he was taking ‘discreet photographs’, beginning a seven-hour ordeal that saw him handcuffed and put in a cell. He also claimed officers put him in a thumb lock.

Mr Finnegan and his team of solicitors said the force had now admitted liability and will pay him £10,000 plus his legal costs and delete all records of his arrest.

Police today said the matter is still moving through the legal process.

Mr Finnegan had been taking pictures of the town centre when he was stopped by the two officers who asked why he had been photographing NatWest.

Mr Finnegan said he was taking a picture of the period building. He was asked for some identification but was not carry any. He then suggested they go to the town centre police station to sort the matter out.

However, as they walked to the station he was restrained by one of the officers. He said: “He grabbed me in a thumb lock and I pulled away from him going ‘what are you doing?’.

“I got taken to the ground face down in a puddle and the CSO, who is about 18 stone, his knee went into my ribs, which cracked or broke the back of my ribs.”

Mr Finnegan was handcuffed and taken to Monkmoor police station, where he was put in a cell after being told he was being arrested for a public order offence.

He said he was released at 9pm without charge, seven hours after he was stopped. After the case against him was dropped, Mr Finnegan took up the case with Bhatt Murphy, a London-based firm of solicitors specialising in civil rights cases.

Fiona Murphy, who represented Mr Finnegan, said: “We welcome the decision to admit liability, to apologise and to destroy the records of Mr Finnegan’s detention.

“We hope that this complete resolution of the claim will enable the force to learn lessons from this regrettable abuse of police powers.”

Toby Shergold, a spokesman for West Mercia Police, said: “This is a live matter subject to ongoing litigation and it would therefore be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”