Scotland’s Chief constable has been ordered to pay a serving Tayside police officer £4,000 in damages after she successfully sued him over her arrest on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.
In a damning judgment issued on Wednesday, Sheriff Kevin Veal said Gwen Louden’s arrest on a matter sparked by an allegation of someone flinging a McFlurry ice-cream at another person was “unjustified, unnecessary and unlawful”.
The sheriff was especially critical of the evidence given during a Forfar civil proof by two detectives one now retired commenting he had found them “ill at ease” in the witness box.
Ms Louden was a community officer in the Sidlaws area at the time of the incident in May 2010 when a complaint was made by a male about an alleged assault involving an ice-cream being thrown.
Concerns arose that the PC had “coached” one of the parties in the case and she was arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The court heard that had left Ms Louden feeling “belittled and grossly humiliated” and she was forced to take five months’ stress and anxiety leave from the force, before being redeployed in a different role.
In a case backed by the Scottish Police Federation, she issued a £50,000 damages claim against Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Stephen House.
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