Police hunting man pay compensation to arrested grandmother

A woman has received compensation from Essex Police after a series of errors led to her being arrested and imprisoned. Beverly Bennett, 58, was about to drive her mother to a cancer clinic in June 2010 when she was accused of leaving a filling station without paying.

Mrs Bennett, of Grays, was held in a police cell for several hours, during which her unattended car was stolen. Essex Police apologised and said the mistake was due to human error. Mrs Bennett was arrested on suspicion of theft on 24 June as she was driving along the A13 in her Honda Accord to collect her mother to take her to King George Hospital in Ilford.



While she was held at Grays police station, officers established her vehicle had been wrongly identified because of a catalogue of errors. CCTV footage seized four weeks earlier had not been viewed and when it was, after Mrs Bennett's arrest, it showed she had paid for her petrol. Tesco staff at the Chadwell St Mary filling station had also told police the suspect was a man and this was not entered on the crime report.

Mrs Bennett was eventually released and returned to the A13 to collect her car, only to find that it had been stolen. Police denied liability on the basis that the police are immune from prosecution, even in negligence claims. However, after negotiation, the force agreed to pay Mrs Bennett undisclosed damages and her legal costs.