Arrested lawyer to seek damages

A BLACK lawyer is seeking damages from the Metropolitan Police after he was falsely arrested and detained in a cell while representing Ben James, the Nigerian-born commodities broker who is threatened with deportation.

The London trainee solicitor, Tiki Emezie, was accused of violent behaviour in a police station and held overnight.

After the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charges, he issued a complaint of false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. Two police officers were found guilty of disciplinary offences at a formal hearing in May. Mr Emezie is now seeking compensation.

He said: "The last thing you expect when attending a police station as a legal adviser is to be treated in the way I was." The lawyer was held as he tried to advise Mr James, a London businessman who the Home Office wants to expel to Nigeria, although he has lived here since he was 14.

The case of Mr James has attracted national attention. His seven-year battle to be allowed to remain in Britain reaches a climax this month with an appeal hearing in the High Court.

Mr Emezie's false arrest, in June 1997, occurred before the deportation case had come to public prominence. He had been called to Peckham police station, south London, after Mr James was placed in custody as an illegal immigrant.