Back in 2010, I blogged the video of Jules Mattsson, a 15-year-old freelance photographer who was stopped by police while shooting an Armed Forces Day parade in London. The police inspector took down his details, told him it was an offense under the Terrorism Act to take pictures of soldiers, told him that the police could stop public photography without recourse to any law, and then told him that photographing soldiers was “gay,” “anti-social behaviour,” “silly” and “stupid.”
Finally, Mattsson has gotten justice: the police have paid him an undisclosed settlement and issued an apology.
“The inspector told [Jules] he was a public hazard and said that photographing in public was ‘anti-social behaviour’,” he said.
“He described the act of taking photographs as ‘silly’ and ‘gay’ and ‘stupid’,” said the spokesman.
“When [Jules] continued to state the lawfulness of his behaviour, the inspector declared it was ‘dangerous’ as he was ‘likely to be trampled on by soldiers’ from the parade.”
Ms Cotton, head of the police misconduct department at the law firm, said: “The treatment of the police towards our client, a 15-year-old, was shocking. The inspector’s comments were designed to belittle.”