Metropolitan Police settle civil claims brought by pensioner following armed raid on wrong address
Mr Morton, who was 80 years old at the time of the incident, and lives alone with a pacemaker, brought claims against the Metropolitan Police Service for negligence, assault and battery, false imprisonment, and breaches of his rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The claims relate to events in the early morning of 28 December 2021, when armed Metropolitan Police officers attended Mr Morton’s home following a 999-call reporting a firearms incident at a different address. The incorrect address was entered into police systems by the police call-handler, which wrongly directed firearms officers to Mr Morton’s residence.
Armed officers forced entry into Mr Morton’s home at approximately 7.13am. Bodyworn video footage shows officers entering darkened rooms with firearms drawn, shining torches toward Mr Morton as he emerged slowly from his kitchen wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants, holding a small wooden doorstop used to wedge an internal door.
The footage captures multiple officers shouting commands over one another. Mr Morton, shielding his eyes from the torchlight, was tasered at close range, fell heavily backwards, and was restrained on the floor before being handcuffed.
Despite being an elderly man in his own home, and notwithstanding that information added to police systems minutes later described the suspected perpetrator as a 26‑year‑old man, Mr Morton was arrested for affray, a serious public order offence involving the use or threat of unlawful violence.
Bodyworn‑ footage recorded shortly after the arrest captures officers questioning the justification for what had occurred. One officer can be heard stating that the matter had “got NFA* written all over it”, and discussions took place about whether Mr Morton should be de-arrested‑.
Yet Mr Morton was detained for almost 11 hours and throughout a transfer to hospital, which arose from concerns related to his pacemaker having been tasered. It was only on arrival at the custody suite, that a custody sergeant ended his detention at approximately 6pm, determining that this was a clear case of mistaken identity based on information that had been available on police systems since 7:19am.
In January 2022, following media coverage of the incident, the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Firearms Command Chief Superintendent issued a public apology, stating:
“I am deeply sorry that this terrible error occurred and I apologise wholeheartedly to Mr Morton.”
A subsequent internal complaint investigation, which concluded over a year later, accepted that the police call handler had missed multiple opportunities to recognise that the address was incorrect.
Despite those findings and, notwithstanding the early public-facing apology, the Metropolitan Police denied full liability once civil proceedings were pursued. Formal litigation commenced in early 2024, following extensive pre-action correspondence and repeated unsuccessful attempts by Mr Morton to resolve the matter without court proceedings.
The Defendant maintained denials across all causes of action, including justification for forced entry, use of a taser and arrest for affray.
A five day trial was listed to begin in February 2026 and Mr Morton’s application for summary judgment or strike out of the Defence regarding the negligence and Article 8 ECHR claims was due to be heard on 23 January 2026.
The claims were settled on 22 January 2026, less than three weeks before trial.
Samuel Jacobs and Frederick Powell represented Roy Morton and were instructed by Rachel Harger of Bindmans.
This case was covered by The Guardian and The Standard.
* NFA stands for ‘No Further Action’, which typically indicates that there are insufficient grounds to charge.
