Background
Peter is a solicitor in the Actions Against Public Authorities team at DPG. He joined the firm in August 2024.
Peter trained as a solicitor at Hodge Jones and Allen where he gained experience in family law, criminal law, personal injury and civil liberties. During his training, he was involved in a wide variety of cases involving police mistreatment, deaths in state custody and issues involving the right to protest, including assisting on a significant number of cases arising out of the Extinction Rebellion protests. Peter qualified as a solicitor in 2020 with a focus on actions against the police and other public authorities. Prior to joining DPG, Peter worked at Saunders Law, where his caseload included inquests, civil claims and judicial reviews involving the police and prison authorities.
Expertise
Peter has expertise in a wide range of actions against the police and other public authorities including complaints, civil claims involving breaches of the Human Rights Act, discrimination, negligence, assault/battery, malicious prosecution and misfeasance in public office, as well as judicial review challenges and inquests involving deaths in state custody.
He has experience successfully assisting clients who have been assaulted by police and prison officers, been unlawfully arrested, suffered unlawful discrimination and been subjected to unlawful strip searches. He has also been involved in a number of cases involving protest clients at the sharp end of public order policing in both a criminal and civil context.
Peter is currently involved in an ongoing group civil claim against the Home Office for unlawful mass searches, seizures and data extractions of mobile phones from asylum seekers arriving by small boat in 2020, following the judgments in R (HM, MA and KH) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 695 (Admin) and [2022] EWHC 2729 (Admin) which found the Home Office’s blanket policy to be unlawful.
Sample cases
Represented a vulnerable young man in a successful civil claim against the Ministry of Justice after he was assaulted by prison officers in his cell on the segregation unit immediately following an attempt to ligature.
Represented the family of a young man who tragically died following contact with the Metropolitan Police. At the conclusion of inquest proceedings, the jury found that the police had failed to take necessary steps or provide adequate care to the young man which denied him appropriate medical assistance and contributed to his death.
As part of a team of lawyers, represented approximately 50 individuals in successful civil claims for unlawful strip searches in a women’s prison, often repeatedly, as a result of serious systemic failings.
Successfully settled claims for two further individuals who were unlawfully strip-searched in a women’s prison.
Represented a vulnerable 18 year old woman in a civil claim after she was forcefully detained and assaulted when police, who had attended as part of a welfare check, attempted to handcuff and search her without any lawful authority.
Memberships
Peter is a member of the Police Action Lawyers Group and the INQUEST Lawyers Group.