Glasgow G4S worker injured after 'helping police tackle violent prisoner'

Gerard Murphy was working for G4S helping transport inmates from Cathcart Police Station in Aikenhead Road to Glasgow Sheriff Court when he allegedly rushed to the aid of a police officer as he was attacked by an inmate.

Cathcart Police Station

Mr Murphy, along with the police officer and inmate, reportedly fell to the ground during the struggle, injuring his hip and ending up with a slipped disc that left him unable to work for more than a year.

The investigation by Police Scotland into the incident was found to be flawed by a watchdog which handles complaints against the force. 

The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) decided that Police Scotland did not handle the complaint to a reasonable standard and issued a reconsideration direction to address errors in the logging and recording of what happened.

Mr Murphy claims police said his decision to intervene was a ‘personal choice’, with the force denying liability as he was reportedly in an area he was 'not authorised to be in'.

Mr Murphy believes it is unfair that the time it took to fully conclude the probes means he now can’t pursue a compensation claim.

He said: “I’ve been told a civil action would be time-barred because it is past the threshold. My solicitor had to wait lengthy periods of time for requested information from Police Scotland.”

The Pirc probe issued a redirection notice to the police asking them to address a number of shortcomings, including looking at whether standard operating procedures had been followed and getting further statements from eye witnesses to the disturbance at the station.

The Glasgow Times has seen a document that admits there were a string of procedural errors, with officers who were on duty when the incident occurred initially claiming in formal statements that Mr Murphy hadn’t been involved when the struggle took place - despite CCTV footage later being reviewed by an inspector who confirmed in a letter to Mr Murphy that it showed him coming to the police officer's aid.

The second investigation into his complaint by the force addressed the directives issued by Pirc around how the first had been handled - but Mr Murphy remains unsatisfied by the outcome.

In a letter to him outlining the overall findings, an investigating officer, employed within the force’s professional standards department, commended him for his "brave and public spirited" actions.

The report, seen by the Glasgow Times, also confirmed that on-duty officers at the station had told the internal investigation that they never asked Mr Murphy to enter the cell passageway, but the "balance of probability" was that he had in fact been asked to do so. It also found that the recording of what happened did not meet with required police protocols.

In the concluding paragraph of the report, the officer apologised to Mr Murphy for the "failings in standards" around how his initial complaint had been investigated, adding: “I would like to thank you for going to the assistance of a police officer and I regret that in doing so suffered an injury.”

The 55-year-old, from Baillieston, said: “In my opinion, the findings of the Pirc review shows that the initial investigation was flawed.

"These officers’ statements said that I had nothing to do with the incident, claimed that I was not present, that I had run away, yet it is now accepted that there is CCTV which shows me in the thick of it.”

He says Police Scotland’s failure to conduct a investigation into the incident on September 28, 2016, at the time has led to it dragging on for several years.  

The force says that his claim for compensation should have been made within 36 months and as such is now time-barred.

They have also denied liability, saying that Mr Murphy was in an area he was not authorised to be in and instead should have remained at the station’s charge bar.

Police solicitors have also said the force’s position is that Mr Murphy’s involvement was "alerting" two officers to the attack on their colleague and say their understanding is he did not become physically involved or report any injury in the period thereafter.

Mr Murphy added: “The police have just contradicted themselves at every turn. One inspector says they acknowledge and thank me for what I did, then the legal service team say all I did was make others aware and played no part.

"I was off my work for over a year and only got sick pay for the first two months. It’s not even about the money now, it’s about Police Scotland doing the right thing.

“It has been proven quite clearly that there were serious errors made in how they handled this. I’ve had an apology in writing, but that doesn’t change the months of intensive physio and physical and mental stress I’ve suffered.

“I tried to do the right thing on that day. I acted to assist a police officer who was being set upon by an inmate. 

“It’s now accepted that I did help that custody officer, that I acted in a publicly spirited manner. All I want is for Police Scotland to do the right thing.”

Mr Murphy is now considering taking the matter to a judicial review and has written to the Scotland’s chief constable, Iain Livingstone, to make a further complaint about how the case has been handled.

Iain Livingstone

A spokesperson for Pirc said: “We received an application in August 2019 for a complaint handling review in connection with an incident at Cathcart Police Station. 

"A response identifying shortcomings in the Police Scotland handling of the complaint was issued to Mr Murphy in March 2020. 

"In December 2020, Police Scotland provided a further response to the complainer addressing these shortcomings. This concluded Pirc’s involvement in the case.”

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: "Police Scotland carried out an internal investigation following a complaint made in 2018.

"The complainer was made aware of the outcome. A further complaint was received in June 2022 and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further.”