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| Mayor Boris Johnson wins London riot compensation case | Mayor Boris Johnson wins London riot compensation case |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| London Mayor Boris Johnson will not have to pay compensation after a warehouse was destroyed in the city's 2011 riots, the Supreme Court ruled. | London Mayor Boris Johnson will not have to pay compensation after a warehouse was destroyed in the city's 2011 riots, the Supreme Court ruled. |
| Insurance companies claimed compensation, citing the 1886 Riot Damages Act, after a Sony warehouse in Enfield was targeted by arsonists. | Insurance companies claimed compensation, citing the 1886 Riot Damages Act, after a Sony warehouse in Enfield was targeted by arsonists. |
| The legislation said "damage by riot" should be paid out of police funds. | The legislation said "damage by riot" should be paid out of police funds. |
| But the court said the mayor's office - which funds the Met Police - should not pay for loss of profit and rent. | But the court said the mayor's office - which funds the Met Police - should not pay for loss of profit and rent. |
| Mr Johnson asked for a Supreme Court ruling following hearings in the High Court and Court of Appeal. | |
| '£60m compensation bill' | |
| A number of insurance companies had argued the destruction and looting of the Sony warehouse fell into the category for compensation as specified by the Victorian legislation - and they wanted the police to foot the £60m bill. | |
| A High Court judge had ruled the Sony warehouse was damaged on 8 August 2011 during "widespread civil disorder" and the losses had arisen out of damage caused by "persons riotously and tumultuously assembled" and should be paid for out of police funds. | |
| But he decided that there was a limit to liability - and said "consequential losses", including loss of profit and rent, were not "in principle recoverable". | |
| Insurers challenged the decision on the "extent of liability" and the Court of Appeal ruled in their favour, concluding that legislation provided a right to compensation for consequential loss. | |
| But five Supreme Court justices, who heard the case in January, have now published a ruling to overturn that appeal court decision. | |
| They concluded the Riot Damages Act does not "extend to cover consequential losses". | |
| The Sony warehouse was attacked on 8 August 2011 during widespread riots that followed the death of Mark Duggan in Tottenham. | |
| More than 1.5m CDs were destroyed in what lawyers called "the largest ever arson attack in Europe". | |
| Chris Owen, head of disputes at law firm TLT, which represented the Met Police, said: "The law was unclear in this area and largely written for a different era." |