employer had me arrested after I brought tribunal case

[cantcarryon]

This has upset me so much, I am having suicidal thoughts.

Basically, I was accused of gross misconduct and dismissed because me employer alleged that I claimed for false overtime hours. This despite the fact that he signed all the payments off over several years. His motivation is that my job is to make financial reports to head office and I made a report which showed a deal he had put together had achieved really appalling results. He threatened me and ordered me to change the report and I refused.I am bringing a tribunal case against him and have been advised by my solicitor that I have a really strong case.

I received a call out of the blue from the police. They had received an allegation from my former employer, they wanted me to make an appointment to go down and talk to them about it. I went down, was promptly arrested, put in a cell for over an hour waiting for the duty solicitor, then spent over 4 hours consulting solicitor and being interviewed. Solicitor says case a load of rubbish but police are obliged to investigate all complaints. So basically, anyone can walk into a police station, make a completely false allegation against you and have you arrested and detained for hours, even days, and you can do absolutely nothing about it.

I've now been bailed and have to return in a month. I now have to worry for weeks that I may go to prison, i may lose my family. I feel so powerless, I can't even leave the house, never mind look for work. I feel my life has ended and don't know how to carry on.

Why are employers allowed to destroy people's lives and get away with it?

Please, can anyone offer me any comfort?

If you tell the PC that you are making a subject access request for this purpose and the documents should be available in 40 days when the company has disclosed them, you might sound a bit more plausible.

Your solicitor sounds crap, by the way. Can you ditch him?

Subject Access Request

Right - CALM DOWN

Only read the first third of the thread so far.

Firstly - you say you need to prove you didn't commit fraud otherwise you will go to court. This is incorrect. The burden of proof lies with the police, and they have to prove to the court beyond al reasonable doubt.

Secondly - this relates to disputed OT spent during homeworking. Did your manger raise any concerns about supervision levels / productivity etc before this fiasco? If not, and there were concerns, why not?

Thirdly - this is clearly victimisation and harassment as a result of bringing an IT - something tribunals view very dimly, and IIRC, for which they will award aggravated damages.

Fourthly - I don't agree with DotGreen's assertion that the police are obliged to arrest in this case - from your post, it does not appear that there were any compelling arrest conditions - this could have been dealt with as a voluntary attender. I would make a complaint to the IPCC in relation to the disproportionate and unnecessary arrest.

This must seem that your world is crashing around you. Things will get better. See your GP.

Will now read the rest of the thread.

Have just read your post from 7th March . This officer has not only failed in duty (giving incorrect information), is abusing his authority - threats to arrest which are baseless, but also seems to have an incorrect grasp of the burden of proof - It is for the police to prove that you committed an offence, not for you to prove you didn't. I urge you to complain to the IPCC re this.

You must be feeling so awful about this. Things will get better. I say this from experience. I tokk an IT against an employer, and I feel that my 20's were a haze of stress and despair as a result. I was so utterly sad all the time. Things are very different, and so much better now.

TYOTC - I initially attended the police station as a voluntary attender and had been told by my employment solicitor that i was entitled to have a free duty solicitor there while I was interviewed. I rang the officer investigating and told him i would need a duty solicitor.

When i got to the police station i was told I could only have a duty solicitor if i was arrested. I was then fingerprinted, searched, photographed, had all my personal possessions taken away and locked in a cell for two hours until the duty solicitor arrived. I was held for so long i could not pick up my kids from school and they would not let me go. they grudgingly allowed me to make an emergency call to my DH who had to drop everything at work and rush off to get them. I was not even allowed to dial the call myself as the desk sergeant said very pointedly "she could be calling anyone". Who the hell did she think I was going to call, my f*ing dealer perhaps???

Now, after being jerked around, given wrong information by the police which led to me breaching bail, the duty solicitor who has supposedly been assigned my case is refusing to return my calls. Despite sending a letter telling me not to hesitate to call if i had any issues i needed to discuss.

I am going to compose a letter to the IPCC, as this so-called police officer sppears to be determined to get me charged.

What was your IT about, were you reported to the police as well?

I wish I could, but I can't go into details here.

I do however know that this sort of thing can be all consuming, and preoccupy every waking moment. Please try to make sure this doesn't happen for you, although at the moment when you are feeling so threatened, I'm sure it feels next to impossible.

Make sure you ask the police for a copy of your custody record and copies of any taped interviews.

I think it's pretty clear that the police abused their authority, making a bad situation much worse. The rules on voluntary attenders are quite clear and your arrest looks like it failed the necessity test. Have a look at these two links. There's a Wiki devoted to this particular subject
wikicrimeline.co.uk/index.php?title=Arrest_voluntary_attendance_at_police_station

The case of Matthew Wren, mentioned in that article, is discussed here on a solicitors forum.
www.criminalsolicitor.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5501&PN=2&TPN=1

It's vital that you get this off your PNC record, as if you ever applied for a CRB check (to help at your kids school or something), this could come up. I'm sure you'd like your DNA deleted as well and you may have a case for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment.

Good luck.

Catkins, that's very interesting - the police told me I had to be arrested in order to get free legal advice at the police station. These threads indicate that anyone interviewed at the police station is entitled to free legal advice, it is not necessary to be locked up in a cell for two hours to get this! So all the fingerprinting, taking of DNA and photographing was illegal, as arrest was not necessary as there was no evidence against me. The police just said "we have to investigate if an allegation is made". The solicitor agreed that there was no case whatsoever.

The police did not actually at any point inform me that i was entitled to free legal advice, they just made an appointment for me to attend and said "you might want to bring your solicitor with you".

Thanks for all this, I am definitely going to make an official complaint and press for damages, as well as insisting that the arrest record is removed immediately.

Why on earth did this solicitor not tell me all this? he is truly crap - I will have to make a complaint against him as well, especially as he is not returning my calls (a week now). Looks like I will have to pay for my own solicitor.

Wow, its awful what's happened to you. Agree that there should surely be no need for you to be arrested. Also why fingerprint you? Not like you being accused of burglary.

I hope you make a complaint of theft against your ex boss about the memory stick. See how he likes getting arrested.

The police probably had to investigate an allegation, but the actual arrest wasn't necessary as you were already at the police station, agreeing to be interviewed under caution. That's where the abuse lies. Arrests are needed to get people to the station for interview. If you're already at the front desk having made an appointment, this is clearly not the case. Police have arrest targets and you probably fell victim to this, as a voluntary attendence wouldn't count and you wouldn't have to give samples. Also, if the officer had you down as a "posh cow" as you suspect, he may have wanted to cause you as much upset as possible.

If you do want to pursue this you might want to check on the Law Society site for solicitors who specialise in actions against the police, although the Wiki gives a few examples.

So basically I was locked up and humiliated for nothing - probably because the police officer just didn't like me. he certainly told me blatant lies.

I am DEFINITELY making a complaint - and will be speaking to my MP as well.

Ruby - no way, I was called at home and asked to come in for an interview. I then had a whole day before the interview if they thought i was going to destroy evidence. When i got to the police station I was told I could not have legal advice without being arrested. The police officer fgot it very wrong, either through ignorance or malice. This is all on the thread.

I was told at the time of making the appointment that i would be finished long before it was time to pick up my kids. This was another lie and i was told after being arrested that they would keep me until I had answered all their questions and they decided i could go "however long that takes".

Are you a police officer, Ruby?

If so, do you think that is proper grounds for arrest?

just caught up with this and am speechless
Agree you need a decent solicitor

Detaining someone to prevent them destroying evidence is one reason for arrest, but I don't think it applies here. She had advance notice of the interview, so had ample time beforehand to destroy evidence. Additionally the police were happy not to arrest cantcarryon as long as she didn't agree to legal representation. This is in itself very dodgy as it looks like a clear attempt to pressure someone into being interviewed under caution without legal representation.

Actually you are allowed a phone call. Pace Code of Practice 'C' 2008 part 5.6 if you're interested! (however it has lots of get out clauses)

Ruby - I fully expect it to happen again when I return again to answer bail. That is why i will have to pay for my wn solicitor to accompany me to protect my rights. The right to free legal representation appears not to exist in reality.

Also, how long can the police keep extending bail? It seems to me they can effectively keep me under arrest for as long as they like as they seem to be in no hurry to complete their investigation and reach a decision.

I can't believe this - I've always trusted in the justice system
Hope you get yourself a decent solicitor soon

So did I, Stealth. I have changed my opinion now.

A very cynical bit of me is wondering is OP's boss and this particular police officer know each other socially (or via the Masons), and whether this is some sort of wierd backroom deal to stress her out as much as possible. Would that be too conspiracy theorist?

Would it be too outrageous to alert the local Masonic Lodge? Really? Just in case bad behaviour was happening?

Boffin - exactly the same thing occured to me too - and to several friends. may sound mad, but such things happen. Not sure what I can do about it - the whole purpose of the Masons is to protect its members so they aren't going to help me.

Just spoke to useless solicitor - he is not interested in helping me, and told me that my arrest record will be held for the rest of my life. Will have to pay for my own solicitor.

He did confirm that it was unnecessary to arrest me to get free legal advice but that the police officer will never admit that this was why he arrested me. Basically his attitude is that the police can do what they want and usually get away with it.

If you can get your arrest ruled unlawful then the record can be wiped - PNC, DNA, fingerprints etc. That's what happened in the Wren case I highlighted earlier. The officer might deny that he arrested you for the reason he did, but he'd be hard pushed to explain why he held a voluntary attender with an advance appointment. Actually, police stations have CCTV all over the place, so there may be evidence of this - esp. if you were informed in the reception or custody area - although I don't know how long tapes would be held. Complain NOW.

Although you'd have to pay for your own solicitor, if you won your case I assume the police would have to pay your costs, as well as damages.

Good idea about writing to your MP as well - as there's an election coming up you might find them very keen to assist!

Have now called a criminal solicitor recommended by the people handling my tribunal case. Awaiting their call - will explain whole situation and see what they say.

Also composing letter to MP. Have had help from her in the past when we had to complain about the conduct of our local police when we were subject to harassment (broken windows etc almost every night) from an associate of the previous owner. They refused to help us saying "its only broken windows, you can afford it"! She was great, went straight to chief constable who kicked some arses. I am wondering if this latest issue is some sort of retribution for that - police station dealing with this is very close to my home town. Some very senior police officers got into some hot water over their failure to help us and I am sure they have friends in neighbouring areas.

As you can see I have some reason to have a low opinion of the police.

I'm staggered by the treatment you have received, I hope your new solicitor is good at their job and wraps this up asap for you x