Bobby Talalay succeeds on vicarious liability in data and misfeasance claim against police for the actions of rogue constable    

Bobby Talalay successfully obtained summary judgment for the Defendant, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP), in a claim brought by the former partners of a rogue ex-constable who had misused their data and unlawfully accessed police systems to do so (JXK v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police [2026] EWHC 608 (KB)).

Richard Proctor, formerly a sergeant at GMP, was convicted of 3 offences relating to his unlawful and unauthorised use of police computer systems, and the processing of data held by the police and was dismissed from the force. Mr Proctor’s ex-partners brought proceedings against the Chief Constable in respect of Mr Proctor’s actions for breaches of data protection legislation and in the torts of misuse of private information and misfeasance in public office.

The Defendant sought summary judgment on the grounds that the Chief Constable was not vicariously liable for the actions of Mr Proctor. The Chief Constable accepted that Mr Proctor had been on duty when he accessed GMP systems, but relied on the fact that Mr Proctor had been repeatedly trained, guided and expressly warned whenever he accessed his computer and GMP systems that he was not permitted to do exactly that which he did, and that what he was doing was entirely personal and had nothing to do with his duties.

The High Court agreed and gave summary judgment in favour of the police, relying in particular on the authority of Ali v Luton [2022] EWHC 132 (QB), that there was not a sufficiently close connection between what Mr Proctor was authorised to do and his duties and responsibilities as constable.

Importantly, and helpfully for public bodies such as the police, the Court at [14] applied these principles to the tort of misfeasance in public office.

Bobby has extensive experience of acting on behalf of police forces and other organisations in complex data protection and privacy litigation, human rights matters, false imprisonment claims, and other areas such as claims for assault, stress at work, malicious prosecution, human rights, and other civil actions and judicial reviews.