DMP, R (on the application of) v The Chief Constable of Warwickshire Police

Facts

The claimant, DMP, now 11, brought this claim through his mother and litigation friend, DUN. He has autism spectrum disorder, ADHD and anxiety, is taught at home and has an Educational Health and Care Plan. On 21 December 2023, when he was eight, he went to riding stables for equine therapy. He was told the lesson could not go ahead, and stable employees blocked him from reaching a pony. It was alleged that he stamped on an employee's foot and made graphic threats. DUN said this was an autistic meltdown, and that the words were autistic echolalia repeating phrases from pirate stories. The police took no action because DMP was under the age of criminal responsibility, and Children's Services also took no further action. However, a record of an alleged assault occasioning actual bodily harm was kept on the force database and the Police National Database. A request to delete it was refused on 18 November 2024, after a review in which a box was ticked recording a capacity to inflict serious harm. That refusal was upheld on appeal on 19 March 2025. DMP brought judicial review proceedings against the Chief Constable, the Secretary of State for the Home Department and the College of Policing, but discontinued against the latter two. Eyre J granted permission on grounds 1 and 2 and refused it on grounds 3 and 4. The renewed application on grounds 3 and 4 was heard on a rolled-up basis at the substantive hearing.