As reported in The Times of 14 April 2025 (Marine wins libel case against police over false claims), Elliot Kebbie, then a Royal Marine, can be identified as the winner of a groundbreaking libel claim against West Yorkshire Police for an email they sent to the Royal Navy. The High Court found that the email alleged that Mr Kebbie was guilty of criminal offences.
Mark Henderson, instructed by Filiz Kiani of Cohen Davis, acted for Mr Kebbie. The claim ended in the Police paying 67,500 in libel and privacy damages and apologising in the High Court for the false allegations. Mr Kebbie secured a further 30,000 payout for a false imprisonment claim, in which he was represented by Nick Stanage on direct access (below).
The Times reported that “After years of grinding legal action, [Mr Kebbie] has won a landmark defamation case against West Yorkshire police — the first force in England to be found to have committed the highest level of defamation”.
The Police originally defended the claim on the basis that their statement to the Navy meant only that there were “grounds to suspect” him of the offences.
In a preliminary trial, Johnson J rejected their case, holding that the Police’s acknowledgment that Mr Kebbie might not be charged “simply reflects the fact that the decision-making in respect of charge was out of the police’s hands” and “does not alter the fact that the … police, for their part, were saying that the claimant had committed the offences.”
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