Met Police to pay damages to French publisher over arrest

The Met Police will have to pay a "substantial" sum to a French publisher arrested using anti-terror laws.

Ernest Moret was on his way to the 2023 London Book Fair, when he was stopped and questioned by counter-terror police at St Pancras station.

Officers asked about demonstrations he had attended in France and took his phone and laptop.

The independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, said the questioning should never have happened.

Mr Hall said police assertions made in interviewing Mr Moret were "exaggerated and overbearing" and found police were trying to use anti-terror legislation for public order policing.

Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 allows police at ports to examine individuals entering or leaving the country without any grounds for suspicion to determine whether they are terrorists.

If the power is deployed legitimately, officers can demand interviewees hand over passwords to seized devices, which Mr Moret refused to do.

An officer then told Mr Moret his refusal to disclose his passcodes could result in a conviction and he would never again be able to travel abroad.

The legislation allows police to hold someone for up to six hours, but they held Mr Moret for about 24 hours.

Mr Hall said: "This was an investigation into public order for which counter-terrorism powers were never intended to be used. The rights of free expression and protest are too important in a democracy to allow individuals to be investigated for potential terrorism merely because they may have been involved in protests that have turned violent."

Mr More sued the Metropolitan Police for compensation for misfeasance in public office and for false imprisonment.

He has agreed to settle for a five-figure sum.

The Met Police told the Guardian the force had reached a settlement with Mr Moret, the details of which were private.