Thames Valley Police faces £10K lawsuit from Reading man after force raided his home

Thames Valley Police is being sued by a Reading man with disabilities who says he suffered psychological injuries after they arrested him raiding his home.

Simon Clulow-Phillips and Catrina Clulow-Phillips have taken TVP to Reading County Court in separate civil claims.

Mr Clulow-Phillips is seeking £10,000 for psychological injury after he was arrested in an incident in April 2020, over allegations which were subsequently dropped.

Simon Clulow-Phillips - who has suffered multiple strokes and now has disabilities - told the Chronicle he was handcuffed face down on the floor at his home during the incident in April 2020.

The HR specialist said he was fast asleep when the police entered his address and said officers began “shaking the bed” to get him out of it.  He subsequently fell on the floor and was tightly hand cuffed, he claimed.

“Really, their behaviour was grossly disproportionate”, 58-year-old Mr Clulow-Phillips said. “It was really quite an ordeal.”

Catrina Clulow-Phillips is suing TVP for taking a CCTV system from her home, which she said was over 50 miles from the alleged incident and so her CCTV was irrelevant.

She argued she has incurred costs, including having to replace an iPhone and damage to a friend’s motor home.

“Bodyworn video had been requested by Mr Clulow-Phillips, counsel and solicitors before it was requested by me”, Mrs Clulow-Phillips told Reading County Court on Wednesday.

“It took until an earlier hearing to find out that it had been deleted ahead of its normal deletion time. That would have shown clearly what happened.”

Jennifer Wright, for Thames Valley Police, said the issue at trial would be 'whether the court accepts the officers had the right things in their mind and exercised their powers reasonably'.

Mrs Clulow-Phillips’ claim - which is worth less than £10,000 - was set aside for a trial in the small claims court.

Mr Phillips’s case was adjourned after he ultimately left the remote hearing, citing his disability and expressing difficulties in concentrating and following the proceedings if they lasted too long or involved too much information. He tells the Chronicle he submitted medical evidence in this regard prior to the hearing.

Thames Valley Police asked Deputy District Judge Edward Hutchin for his claim to be struck out on the basis that he has not complied with a previous court order.

Ms Wright said: “He has had three and a half years to explain why he has not complied with the 2020 order or to seek relief from that. In the defendant’s submission, he has had every possible opportunity.”

Judge Hutchin declined to decide the matter without Mr Clulow-Phillips present, but ordered for a further hearing to decide TVP’s application and an application which Mr Clulow-Phillip had made for reasonable adjustments on the basis of his disability.