Wrong, We, The Longsuffering Taxpayer Do....

Scotland Yard has paid out almost £50,000... 

Have they really? No, of course not. It comes out of the taxpayer's pocket as always, when it really should come out of the pockets of the idiots in blue. And idiots they once again proved themselves: 

Armed police smashed into the home of Roy Morton, who has a pacemaker, fired the stun gun, pinned him down and handcuffed him after a call handler provided the wrong address for a firearms incident.

The terrified father-of-two was then arrested for affray and detained for 11 hours after the raid at 7.13am on December 28, 2021, despite his heart condition and the case being a clear instance of mistaken identity.

How clear a case? Well, Reader, the suspect they were looking for was a young black man in his 20s. Mr Morton is white and 80 years old.

An internal investigation conducted by the Met found the call handler missed multiple opportunities to spot that the address was incorrect.

 You don't say..?

Despite this, the force denied full liability and a five-day trial was listed for next month. The claims were settled on January 22, however.

Understandably, who wouldn't? So it must have been decided faily quickly?

Mr Morton's lawyer, Rachel Harger, an associate at Bindmans, slammed the force for pursuing years of litigation to settle the case. 

Oh. Well, why not, since it doesn't cost them anything... 

'There was an early public acknowledgement that a serious error had occurred, yet Mr Morton was forced to pursue proceedings to the brink of trial to achieve any finality,' she added. 

And what do the Met have to say for themselves? The usual platitudes: 

Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Smithson said: 'We wholeheartedly apologise to Mr Morton and understand the impact this incident has had, while also recognising the amount of time it's taken to reach a conclusion in this case. 

'We hope Mr Morton is able to move forward and thank him for his patience during this process. 

Did he really hsve a choice?  

'We have reviewed the circumstances of this incident to identify any learnings and implemented specific training procedures to avoid similar instances in the future. This includes delivering training to each and every call handler within the Met.'

You mean they weren't already trained to ensure they got the right address? Well, why would they be, when they've got no skin in the game?