MPS used non-existent Act of Parliament to breach data protection laws on former force `poster girl`
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) admitted using a bogus law to conduct surveillance on a former `poster girl` officer after she went on holiday while on sick leave for depression.
Aug 26, 2016
By Nick Hudson
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) admitted using a bogus law to conduct surveillance on a former `poster girl` officer after she went on holiday while on sick leave for depression.
Citing a non-existent Act of Parliament, the MPS obtained personal information about the trip ex-Detective Constable Andrea Brown accompanied by her mother and daughter took to the West Indies.
Ms Brown, who sued the force for wrongly using its powers to investigate her, won a claim for breaches of data protection and human rights laws in a civil case heard at Central London County Court.
The judge described Detective Inspector Sarah Rees, of Sutton police station who investigated Ms Brown, as “glib, almost flippant” with a “loose and casual grasp of the law”.
Ms Brown, who says she was left “emotionally, mentally and financially drained” by her battle against her former employer, claims she had to sell her home to fund the £80,000 costs of her case.
She is waiting for the court to assess damages. The MPS said it would not make a full comment until they were finalised.
The court heard that Ms Brown joined the MPS in 1993 and her photograph on patrol at a football match proudly hangs in the reception area at New Scotland Yard.
But she resigned from the MPS in November 2013 after a 20-year career, recalling: “I lost all my confidence and sense of self worth and, at times, I felt close to a complete nervous breakdown.”
While on sick leave for depression in 2011 her father died of cancer and she decided to take her mother and 14-year-old daughter to visit their wider family in Barbados for two weeks.
She told her Police Federation of England and Wales representative about the trip, but not her line manager.
Her failure to do so did amount to a minor disciplinary matter prompting an investigation by senior officers at Sutton police station in south London.
Detective Inspector Rees engaged the National Border Targeting Centre (NBTC), a part of the UK Border Force operated by Greater Manchester Police (GMP).
She also approved an application to Virgin Atlantic to hand over details of Ms Brown`s travel details, quoting a non-existent 2007 Police Act.
Ms Brown told the BBC: “She had not given a reason why she wanted the information… she hadn`t got it authorised.
“But yet she was able to get details of my and my daughter`s travel, and obtained five years worth of information about my travel movements.”
Ms Brown sued the MPS and GMP for breach of data protection, human rights and misuse of personal information.
Just before the hearing last month both forces admitted breaching the Data Protection Act and Ms Brown`s right to respect for her family and private life under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act.
In July, the court ruled both forces had misused private information, although the judge rejected a claim for misfeasance in public office.
Judge Jan Luba QC was highly critical of Det Insp Rees, saying she appeared “glib, almost flippant”, and he expressed his astonishment at her “loose and casual grasp of the law”.
Ms Brown`s solicitor advocate David Gray-Jones said: “What is significant is that the judge commented that the senior police officers involved in this case didn`t appear to have any appreciation or understanding of the laws that regulate their conduct in this area, and didn`t acknowledge that they had done anything wrong.”
The MPS said it had successfully defended Ms Brown`s civil claim for misfeasance in a publi