Syed v Director of Public Prosecutions
“The test which should be used by a police constable to establish whether or not he was entitled under s 17(1)(e) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 to use force to enter and search premises, without a warrant, for the purpose of ‘saving life or limb or preventing serious damage to property’ was whether some serious or dangerous incident had occurred, or was likely to occur, within the premises, and not the officer’s ‘concern for the welfare’ of someone in the premises.”
WLR Daily, 14th January 2010
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.