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Student arrested for giving beggar N308 gets N1.54m compensation

July 13, 2015 6:41 PM

A student who was arrested and handcuffed for giving a beggar a £1 coin (N308.38) has won £5,000 (N1,541,878) compensation for unlawful detention.

George Wilson was arrested unlawfully

George Wilson was held by the police in Liverpool city after the kind act because the arresting policeman thought he was swapping drugs.

The 20-year-old had just left a nightclub at around 2am in January 2011 and gave the beggar the coin but a policeman who saw the incident thought it was a drug sale.

The police officer stopped and detained under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

He however managed to make a voice recording of the incident.

"If I lock you up for being drunk and disorderly, because that's what you are being, you won't be a student of the law anymore," the officer said in the recording.

"I'll take that off you. So shut your mouth and stop being stupid.

The former students, now working with Bentley Motors, said he felt let down by the police.

"I felt let down by the police," he said.

"It was a relief to settle the claim, although it wasn't all upheld so I still feel in a way proper justice wasn't found."

The police officer was "provided with advice and training" according to a Merseyside Police spokesman.