Malicious prosecution

When it comes to proving malicious prosecution there is a number of criteria that need to be met.

The police deliberately misstated the facts (or lied) to make the decision to the charge and they then intend to prosecute.
Malicious prosecution claims can only be made if they have been acquitted, or if the charges have been dropped (therefore they can’t be brought whilst proceedings are ongoing).
There were no ‘Reasonable grounds’ for the charge.
The actions and intent of the police were malicious. This is the most difficult part of proving malicious prosecution as you need to show that the prosecution was malicious rather than simply a mistake or negligent.
You must have suffered some damage which is the easiest to prove because of simply being accused of an imprisonable offence.

A recent case involving Malicious prosecution

We successfully gained £27,000 for our teetotal client who was breathalysed and when this showed as clear, the officer said that he was not going to release the car. An altercation followed during which our client was assaulted. Our client was then prosecuted for assaulting the officer. In evidence at the trial, the officer gave outlandish explanations for why they felt that it was necessary to seize the car and use force against our client. She was acquitted by the jury and then brought proceedings against Surrey Police.

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