Met unlawfully arrested teen for attempted murder

A man has said he feels "vindicated" after a court ruled the Metropolitan Police unlawfully arrested him for attempted murder of his mother due to his race.

As a 16-year-old, Daryl McLune was handcuffed on 25 July 2021 and held for 23 hours after his mother tried to take her own life.

A Central London County Court jury on Thursday found the Met Police's conduct towards him was also in breach of his human rights, McLune's lawyers said.

The Met acknowledged "how distressing it was for the boy to have been arrested in these tragic circumstances" and said it was committed to tackling all forms of discrimination.

McLune, now 21, said: "I have waited a long time for this vindication and whilst I will never forget these events, having the jury confirm I should never have been arrested, will I hope help me to try to move on and recover from this incident."

Despite officers seeing McLune arrive at the scene on a bicycle after them, they arrested him.

Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, the law firm representing McLune, said that "far from treating him as a child in crisis, [the Met Police] handcuffed him in front of his neighbours".

He remained in handcuffs at Wandsworth police station for five hours until police took forensic samples from his hands - these samples were never processed or submitted, the firm said.

The arrest had a "profound impact" on McLune who subsequently dropped out of school, having previously been a "diligent student", the firm added.

Megan Phillips, partner at Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, said the civil case showed the "true face of two-tier policing in this country" and that McLune "should have been offered support as he suffered the shock and grief of seeing his mother fighting for her life with catastrophic injuries".

"Instead, he was wrongly treated as a suspect because of his race," Phillips said.

A spokesperson for the Met said: "We know cases like this damage the trust communities have in us and we will be considering the outcome carefully."

The civil court jury found the Met acted unlawfully and is liable for assault and battery, false imprisonment, race discrimination (breach of the Equality Act 2010) and breach of the Human Rights Act 1998 (contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights which protects us all from 'inhuman and degrading treatment or torture').

Judge Holmes is expected to determine what damages should be paid to McLune in the near future.

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