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by Paddy McGuffin and
Joana Ramiro
THE Metropolitan Police Service has been forced to pay £50,000 in compensation to two brothers caught up in student protests in Westminster in 2010.
Christopher and Andrew Hilliard, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, sued the Met for malicious prosecution, assault and battery.
The force has agreed to pay each brother £25,000 and has apologised for the distress caused, according to Channel 4.
A spokesman for the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, which organised the protests with other groups, told the Star that the case was symptomatic of escalating police brutality against political opponents and marginalised communities.
“The police have been shown again and again to be willing to lie and cheat in an attempt to convict protesters,” said Callum Cant.
“As long as the police are used politically by the government to smash opposition, these attacks on protesters will continue.”
The brothers were accused of pulling a mounted policeman off his horse at a protest on December 9 2010 as Parliament voted to increase annual university tuition fees from £3,000 to a maximum of £9,000.
The Hilliards were retried after jurors failed to reach verdicts at the Old Bailey but were acquitted of violent disorder at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court.
“I used to have a very positive view, now it’s a very negative view,” said Christopher Hilliard. “Through all the things that have happened I certainly don’t trust the police.
“We were told by our lawyers that the likelihood of us being found not guilty due to the number of police witnesses was extraordinarily low.
“It’s only due to the fact that we were able, with our mum, to put together a lot of data, a lot of video footage for the trial, that we were able to be found not guilty through a lot of hard work.
“I frequently worried that I was going to go to prison, that I was going to be incarcerated for something that was not of our doing at all.”
A Scotland Yard spokeswoman confirmed the settlement and that the Hilliards had received a written apology.
