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The Administrative Court gave judgment on Friday 19 August 2016 in the case of R (Green) v Independent Police Complaints Commission ('IPCC') [2016] EWHC 2078 (Admin). The case related to the use of CS spray by a police officer in the course of a student demonstration at Warwick University in December 2014.

The claimant challenged the IPCC's conclusion that there was no case to answer for misconduct by the officer responsible, including by reference to CCTV and other video evidence which had been considered by the IPCC. The Court held (i) that, applying the previous case of Demetrio [2015] EWHC 187 (Admin), the question was whether the IPCC's conclusion was supported by the relevant evidence on an objective analysis; (ii) the IPCC investigator in her report had directed herself correctly both as to the relevant test and as to whether there was a case to answer (and as to her own role in the decision-making process); (iii) the summary of the evidence by the investigator was adequate, fair and sufficient; and (iv) the investigation process was not otherwise inadequate; but (v) on the facts, and having viewed the video evidence, the Court did not consider that a conclusion that there was no evidence to support the finding that there was a case to answer in relation to the particular use of CS spray at issue was rationally supportable on the objective evidence and, accordingly, the IPCC's decision to that effect would be quashed.

Emma Dixon appeared for the IPCC.

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