An innocent man will get no compensation after police broke into his home.
Leo Wallace-Barr first saw the officers outside his home in Speke on his Ring doorbell app, the Liverpool Echo reports. He was working on a job in Ambleside in Cumbria when the app ‘suddenly started going berserk’.
The doorbell took a ‘big hit’ outside his house. An internal camera then captured the police ‘floating around inside’.
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More than £2,000 was left out of Leo’s pocket after officers forced their way in during the raid. But Merseyside Police said it was ‘the occupier’s responsibility for any repairs’.
Leo, who owns his own knife sharpening business, described earlier this month how he first saw the police on his doorbell app. “I usually ignore it when I’m working”, said the 65-year-old.
“Generally it’s just people delivering leaflets or something. But the ads went on and on.
“I got up and opened the app. Then I saw all these people outside my house and there was a big commotion going on.”
Leo checked his home’s internal camera and saw a ‘swarm of ant-like people floating around inside’. But they weren’t typical home invaders – they were police officers in uniform.
At first, he assumed he was the victim of a robbery, and that the police were there to help him. He said: “When I saw him, I thought – innocently enough – maybe some dangerous armed robbers had broken in and they saw him and chased him.”
Leo down his tools and rushed home to see what was happening. By the time he arrived, all was quiet outside his house, but his front doors had been broken in and boarded up.
He went inside and saw that the police had searched through the property, including the attic space. He claims they went ‘through his clothes’ too.
Footage from the doorbell shows police using power tools and removing the entire front door of the property. Leo said: “It was just horrible. I felt like I was being attacked.
“It was a huge breach.” He called 101 to find out what prompted the raid on his home.
An officer told him that a warrant had been issued by a court and that police had entered the property under the Misuse of Drugs Act. He claims that police told him that their suspicions were raised by the air conditioning units he had installed in his property, as well as the frosted windows in the downstairs area.
The implication – according to Leo – is that a cannabis farm was operating in his home. When he spoke to the police, he set about replacing new doors.
He found a door fitter who came round to replace both doors at a cost of £1,800. According to Leo’s calculations, he incurred costs of more than £2,200 as a result of the incident.
Speaking to the ECHO this week, he said: “The cost of replacing my two front doors was £1,800 and my earnings on the day of the raid were £400.55. So with the £30 fuel cost from Ambleside to Speke. and back my total loss for the incident is £2,230.55.
“It’s just too much money.” Last week, Leo received a letter from Merseyside Police’s Civil Litigation Unit saying ‘although no evidence of criminality has been established … Merseyside Police has no offer of compensation to make.’
In short, the police will not pay him a penny for the losses he incurred in the raid. Leo said: “I have looked at solicitors but the amounts are too small for them to win without a fee, so to do anything I would have to pay a fee of £5,000 to start.”
He has considered going to small claims court, but is concerned about the costs involved and the time it will take to see any results. “I would have to pay £115 for a claim of up to £3,000 and that could take months”, he said.
“And there’s no guarantee I’d win. In the end I might find I’ve wasted another £115. More money down the drain.” Another option is insurance, but that would also involve a financial win.
If he makes a claim on his home insurance, he would have to pay an excess fee, as well as a higher insurance premium next year. What he claims bothers him the most is the way the authorities have treated him.
He said: “They are treating me like a criminal. It is insulting. I understand that drugs can be a serious and terrible thing – especially the county lines stuff. But this was completely suppositional by police – they made an assumption dodgy about me because of the air conditioning unit at my house.”
He added: “I would accept it if they found drugs in my house – even one article. That’s the law. But the reality is they didn’t find anything. It’s absurd. And the stress of it is taking its toll my health.
Leo is seeking help from his local MP, and wants the law changed to ensure that no one else has to go through what he has endured in recent weeks. He said: “Maybe the best outcome of this is a law change. I want to help other people. It’s been six weeks now, and I’m not giving up.”
A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: “Warrants are issued by a Justice of the Peace, where there is reasonable suspicion that an offense under the relevant Act has or is being committed.”
“When warrants are executed, force may be used under the provision of Section 117 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. If the occupier wishes to challenge the warrant, they are invited to seek independent legal advice. As entry was lawful and reasonable at the property in Speke on Friday 7 June the occupier is responsible for any repairs, which are in accordance with government guidelines.”
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