Test case about whether victims of serious crime can sue police
Photo credit 3D Judges Gavel by Chris Potter (2012) / StockMonkeys.com / CC BY 2.0
Victims of serious crime should not be allowed to use the Human Rights Act to sue the police, lawyers for the Home Office will argue in a Supreme Court test case.
Two women attacked by the “black cab rapist” John Worboys won a civil case in 2014 against the London Metropolitan Police after the court found their human rights had been violated by the force’s failures in the investigation. He was eventually jailed for life in 2009 and police suspect he may have carried over 100 attacks with the first reports emerging in 2002.
Police were found to have arrested Worboys several times after many of his victims came forward but repeatedly dropped the charges.
The High Court found Scotland Yard had a duty under the Human Rights Act to investigate serious violence against women and could be held accountable by the courts if they failed to do so. The court also found the police were in breach of Article 3, which protects against inhuman or degrading treatment.
But the force, with the backing of the Home Office, has appealed the decision and could potentially be liable for millions of pounds in compensation to rape victims if it loses.
Photo credit 3D Judges Gavel by Chris Potter (2012) / StockMonkeys.com /