Dad dragged away from dying daughter's bed by cops hit with huge legal bill
Dr Rashid Abbasi will have to pay the legal fees after losing his case for wrongful arrest.
A dad who was dragged away from his dying daughter's hospital bed by police has been hit with a huge legal bill.
Dr Rashid Abbasi will have to pay the legal fees after losing his case for wrongful arrest. He also brought a civil claim for false imprisonment and assault and battery against Northumbria Police but was condemned as dishonest by a judge.
Now, he will have to pay for the five-day trial at Newcastle Crown Court. It means he will have to pay for his civil case and around 60 to 70 per cent of the legal costs of Northumbria Police, a bill estimated at anywhere from £50,000 up to £100,000.
In disturbing video images reported by the Mirror, footage showed him shouting 'b*******' and biting officers who restrained and dragged him from intensive care in August 2019.
Dr Abbasi had attempted to recover some costs under a one way cost shifting regime but it is understood that police have opposed that move and it is set to be rejected by the judge. It was a bid to offset some of the 'costs liability' which will run into tens of thousands of pounds.
Police footage showed Dr Abbasi, 64, sparked the violence in the paediatric unit of the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, said Recorder James Murphy in his judgement.
He condemned his 'quite appalling' allegations that an officer had told him that he would never see daughter Zainab again as untrue and said that he doubted even Dr Abbasi had ever believed it.
In his damning judgement, he said: "I would be very surprised that a member of the public let alone a police officer would not have decided there was likely to be a breach of the peace.
"The attitude of Dr Abbasi at the time described by the nurses and also the security guards paint a much more accurate picture of the menace present on the ward used by Dr Abbasi.
"It is perfectly clear to me looking at his demeanour and attitude. If I was a bystander having watched this footage, a reasonable description would have been that Dr Abbasi was a coiled spring."
He and his wife, Aliya, 57, also a doctor, were told that medics wanted to remove Zainab, six, from a ventilator keeping her alive. The little girl suffered from a life-limiting neurodegenerative condition called Niemann-Pick Disease.
It was a 'truly shocking' incident, the judge said. She died four weeks later.
Speaking after the case earlier this month, Dr Abbasi said: "My daughter Zainab was the light of my life. "She was a critically ill young girl. She needed both her parents by her bedside. Any father would have been desperate to stay.
"I am disappointed that the arrest was held to be lawful and the description of me by the Judge as a menace was unwarranted and hurtful and is not borne out by the video footage which tells its own story."
His solicitor, Daniel Cooper, Partner at Imran Khan and Partners, said he would be advising on the merits of an appeal "in due course."
Both Northumbria Police and Dr Abassi's legal team declined to comment on the legal bill.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
2 hours ago
- Daily Record
Identity theft warning issued to everyone using Amazon Fire Sticks for illegal streaming
Amazon Fire Sticks are among some of the most popular devices used to illegally stream live events but a new warning has been issued that these pirate streams are being used by criminals to swipe credit card details and plant malware on user's devices. Illegal live sport streams, often accessed via devices such as Amazon's £25 Fire Stick, are being sneakily used by criminals to swipe credit card information and plant malware on unsuspecting users' devices. A revealing study from Enders Analysis has branded pirated video as an "enticing store front" for crooks, whilst slamming big tech companies for not sufficiently addressing this "industrial scale theft". The report highlights that illegal streaming is embraced by one in eight individuals aged between 16 to 24, deeming the fight against it a "formidable challenge". The investigation blamed top-tier tech firms for "a combination of ambivalence and inertia", criticising them for neglecting robust security measures and inadvertently guiding consumers towards illegal offerings. It detailed three primary factors that contribute to the thriving piracy scene. Social media platforms, according to the research, act as gateways to "opportunistic" re-streaming of live events, while the second deploys streaming as a method to implant malware onto the viewer's gadget, the Mirror reports. The document stated: "Pirated services are part of sustained efforts, mostly by organised crime, to gain access to consumer data and online identity, infect devices with malware and enrich their criminal enterprises." Additionally, devices like the Fire Stick, which sell pirate TV subscriptions posing as legitimate providers, were labelled the third enabler of content piracy. Within Europe alone, it's estimated that a staggering 17 million people engage in pirated TV watching, with the financial impact believed to be somewhere between £900m and £21bn annually. To put this into perspective, just one illicit stream of a major football game might attract tens of thousands of viewers, the report identified. The document branded Amazon's Fire TV Stick as a prominent "piracy enabler". The gadget, which connects to a television and provides access to thousands of legitimate services, is also illicitly used to stream major events. Enders Analysis commented that consumers do not need to "search the darkest corners of the web" as the services are already "openly marketed and promoted". Amazon has reportedly taken steps with Fire TV to make it more difficult to stream pirated content and cautions its users against "sideloaded apps". A spokesperson stated: "We remain vigilant in our efforts to combat piracy and protect customers from the risks associated with pirated content, which includes prohibiting apps that infringe upon the rights of third parties in our Appstore, and warning customers of the risks associated with installing or using apps from unknown sources." Sky Group COO Nick Herm remarked: "It's a serious issue for anyone who invests in creating and delivering world-class content. We'd like to see faster, more joined-up action from major tech platforms and government."
Daily Record
2 hours ago
- Daily Record
Body of missing UK hiker found in Italian Alps after vanishing on New Year's Day
Aziz Ziriat, 36, vanished during a hiking trip in the Italian Dolomites with pal Samuel Harris, 35 - Samuel's body was found back in January but Aziz's remains were found on Saturday The body of a Brit who went missing on New Year's Day while hiking in the Italian Dolomites has been found. Aziz Ziriat, 36, from London went missing alongside his friend Samuel Harris, 25, at the beginning of the year. A massive search was launched after the pair were not heard from since January 1, reports the Mirror. His body was found this morning and the Trentino Alpine and Speleological Rescue team are now working to recover his remains. The pair were known to have been near the town of Tione Di Trento, near Riva Del Garda, on Lake Garda, before they vanished. The alarm was raised after the pair stopped responding to messages and failed to get on their flight back to the UK on January 6. Samuel's body was tragically found back in January, after his body had been buried under metres of deep snow. The search for the pair was complicated by poor weather conditions and heavy snow at high altitudes. Search teams discovered items belonging to Aziz, including his mobile phone and a card, not far from his friends body, in January. Despite this, the dozens of rescuers involved in the search were not able to find the 36-year-old at the time. Rescuers were hopeful the snow melting in the spring and summer would aid the search for Aziz. The operation to find his body is being coordinated by the Italian Guardia di Finanza and is ongoing. The pair had travelled to The Dolomites to hike between huts in the mountain range for a New Year's trip abroad. After the initial search for the friends began, Aziz's girlfriend described the pair as "experienced hikers", but revealed she had last spoken to her boyfriend at around 10am on New Year's Day. Rebecca Dimmock also shared her boyfriend's last messages to her before the pair were not heard from again. In January, she said: "He sent some photos of the mountains and a couple of himself. He said his phone was about to die but he would write back to me properly soon." Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. She also revealed more details about the friends' hiking plans. Rebecca added: "I know they made it to the hut, and they were drinking red wine, but he said it was freezing." A video, at the time, showed Aziz preparing to hike the mountain range on New Year's Day with Samuel. He filmed the mountain range he planned to scale and a shelter it was believed the pair stayed overnight. Aziz had worked for Crystal Palace at the club's official Palace For Life charity. The Premier League club put out a post to appeal for information when he initially went missing.
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
Teenage son of Brit couple held captive in Iran prison issues desperate plea
Craig and Lindsay Foreman have spent nearly 150 days in prison held on unspecified spying charges, with Iran accusing them of 'posing as tourists' to gather intelligence The family of a British husband and wife held captive in Iran over spying charges have written desperate letters to her but received no response. Craig and Lindsay Foreman were taken into custody while motorbiking across the country after being warned by the Foreign Office and their family not to visit because of the dangers posed by the rogue state. The couple, in their 50s, were held in January on unspecified spying charges, with Iran accusing them of 'posing as tourists' to gather intelligence. Now, as they have spent nearly 150 days in prison, it has emerged the Foreign Office has been supporting Craig, a carpenter and Dr Foreman, a life coach. Lindsay's son Toby spoke for the first time about the heartache the family faced. He said Foreign Office officials visited his mother on Tuesday. He told the Mirror: 'There was a visit yesterday day. Someone from the Foreign Office, checking if she's okay. We have been able to pass on a message to the Foreign Office, everyone wrote a letter to give them to them, but we don't know what they received. 'We just don't want to make things worse. We're waiting to see if anything big happens over the next few months.' The 19-year-old university student said the news that his mother had been detained over alleged espionage offences came as a 'real shock'. He said: 'Everyone in the family is dealing with it in different ways. I had never heard about English people being detained out there. 'I thought there was more of a security concern with them taking relatively expensive bikes out there. 'We were not expecting for them to get detained. She has studied a lot of psychology so she's probably in a better place mentality than other people.' Craig and Lindsay crossed into Iran from Armenia on December 30 and planned to leave by January 4 on their way to Australia. After entering the country they stayed in Tabriz, Tehran and Isfahan. But they never reached their next hotel in Kerman. In February Craig and Lindsay were accused of entering Iran 'posing as tourists' conducting research before their arrest near the city of Kerman. The couple, both aged 52, were also accused of 'gathering information from several provinces' and said to be 'cooperating with covert institutions linked to the intelligence services of hostile and Western countries'. Toby praised the Foreign Office for their support so far. He said: 'The Foreign Office has been pretty helpful - I have nothing bad to say about them.' The Foremans had been documenting their time spent in Iran on social media before their arrest. One clip, captioned 'We are in Iran', showed Lindsay in the front seat of a car while her husband waves behind her at the camera. A separate video shows her sat eating at a traditional Iranian restaurant. Lindsay, who has a PhD in psychology, was preparing a research project which she was due to present in Brisbane, Australia, at the conclusion of the trip. She was asking people at points along their trip what it means to be human and how you can live a good life. Before entering Iran, she posted online that the couple were about to 'tackle one of the most challenging - and let's be honest, slightly scary - sections of our journey'. The couple said they chose to ignore warnings from friends, family and the Foreign Office because they believed 'no matter where you are in the world, most people are good, kind humans striving for a meaningful life'. They added: 'Yes, we're aware of the risks. But we also know the rewards of meeting incredible people, hearing their stories, and seeing the breathtaking landscapes of these regions could far outweigh the fear. From the vast deserts of Iran to the towering peaks of Pakistan, we hope to share the beauty, hospitality, and humanity that often go unnoticed.' The Foremans previously featured on Channel 4 show A New Life in the Sun, which documented their move from Sussex to a villa in Andalusia, Spain.
