Updates from the Legal Place

As with most stories, there are two sides to the story of the hapless Mark Gilbert, who made the papers in 2008 when he was frogmarched down the street in Witham, Essex by his boss while sporting a cardboard placard reading 'THIEF - I stole 845 pounds - am on my way to police station.'
Mr Gilbert, deciding that he had had enough of hanging around waiting for boss Simon Cremer to pay him (or so he says anyway) made out a cheque to himself for the aforementioned amount and took it into a local pawnbrokers to get it cashed. The assistant, smelling a rat, contacted flooring company boss Mr Cremer, who was not best pleased.

So unamused was he, in fact, that he doled out a little helping of what some may call 'mob rule' justice to his soon-to-be-former employee. He confronted him, made him don the handwritten sign and promptly marched him down the street to the police station, in full view of both press photographers and hordes of goggling shoppers.

However, when they got there, the police seemed unsure as to who the criminal was. Although Mr Gilbert earned himself four hours in a police cell, Mr Cremer was astonished to hear that he was being charged with false imprisonment, which at its most draconian can carry a life sentence for perpetrators. He was also thrown in a cell for twelve hours, three times longer than the man he thought was in the wrong.

Mr Gilbert, for his part, alleges that he was merely helping himself to what he was owed, although one could question his methods of procuring it, and his actions did not merit what he considers to be heavy handed action from his boss.

'I was set upon. They laid into me, they beat me,' he said at the time. I was begging Simon to let me go to the police, they said they didn't trust me and they had to tie me up.

'They were punching me and threatened me with various tools. They showed me the sign and made me say it out loud three times.'

He also revealed that he thought he was going to die after he was bundled into the back of Mr Cremer's van to make the trip to the police station (excepting the walk of shame, of course).

The reason that the story has made the news once again this week is that Mr Gilbert is planning to pursue a civil compensation claim against his ex-employer, arguing that the humiliation he suffered at the time has rendered him unable to work, as he has been unemployed for the two years since the incident.

Unsurprisingly, Mr Cremer's perspective on this issues differs somewhat. While some of the comment posters under the Daily Mail article covering the story decried the actions of Mr Cremer as being over-the-top and 'hugely disproportionate,' many more champion his status as a somewhat of a 'have a go hero.'

He himself says, 'He has put in a civil claim form which is in the hands of my solicitor. His claim is for the trauma, stress, and psychological help he needed.

'He's claiming he's not been able to work for the past two years because of the trauma and distress he has suffered.

'I don't think it is right you steal from someone and then sue them. That is not justice.

'We have got 14 days to launch a counter claim. We've got to look to whether I can afford to fight the case. It costs GBP25,000 just to fight it and I haven't got that sort of money lying around.'

Essentially, what this boils down to is a compensation claim case for personal injury. Mr Gilbert alleges that he was both beaten physically and injured psychologically by the actions of Mr Cremer.

Although the story, as reported in the Metro, ends with the line 'Legal aid is not available to fight personal injury cases, a courts service spokesman confirmed,' Mr Gilbert will of course, should he wish to, be able to avail of the 'no-win, no-fee' system which replaced legal aid for such cases in 1998 after the Wolff reforms.

About the Author:

Richard Craig is a UK-based personal injury author and blogger with interests including compensation claims and work injury.

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