Lecturer brutally beaten by gang who invaded his home wins court fight to get police station closure reconsidered

Victim left with fractured eye socket, broken nose and severe internal bleeding brought High Court challenge against closure of 37 police stations in London

The four men who broke into his family home in 2014 received jail terms ranging between 13 and 19 years

A university lecturer who was violently attacked and credited the police’s swift response with saving his life has forced two leading judges to recognise the closure of his local station was unlawful and must be reconsidered.

However, Paul Kohler, from Wimbledon in southwest London, lost a High Court challenge against the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac) to close 37 of the 73 police stations across the capital.

Mr Kohler, 59, believes the only reason he survived a brutal beating in 2014 – after four men forced their way into his family home – was because officers were able to get to his home from the station within eight minutes of a 999 call made by his daughter.

Following the ruling by Lord Justice Lindblom and Mr Justice Lewis, Mr Kohler said he was “pleased” about the decision reached by the court in relation to Wimbledon, but was “only sorry we did not have similar evidence in respect of the other police stations”.

In their ruling, the judges said Mopac had failed to “consider a material point raised during the consultation exercise [to the Wimbledon station proposal], namely the suggestion that the decision should be postponed pending an evaluation of the impact of new technology”.

Mr Lindblom and Mr Lewis quashed that decision and said it should now be reconsidered.

The ruling came after it was announced violent crime has surged in the past year with recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments rising by 16 per cent to 40,147 in England and Wales.

Meanwhile the detection rate of these crimes, as well as the number of police officers, has plunged to a record low amid claims the UK is “sleepwalking into a nightmare”.

Sustained cuts to Britain’s police budgets have meant that forces have had to make swingeing cuts to both frontline and backroom staff, as well as station closures.

Tessa Gregory, a partner at law firm Leigh Day, who represented Mr Kohler, said: “Our client is delighted that the court has today quashed the decision of the Mayor’s Office to close and sell his local police station in Wimbledon.

“Whilst the court did not consider it had the necessary evidence to quash the decision to close other police stations across London, it was highly critical in its judgment of the way in which the whole consultation was conducted.”

Mr Kohler’s team had argued that the decision to close police station counters and dispose of the premises was “unlawful” since the prior consultation process was “characterised by a lack of information and a lack of clarity”.

The judicial review action was “robustly” defended by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

Mr Khan told BBC Radio London on Friday: “The Met Police is losing £1bn over 10 years. The simple choice is police officers or front counters.

“It’s a tough choice that I’ve got to make – I’m choosing police officers.”

His spokesman added: “The decision to close the counters is as a direct result of government cuts to the police budget since 2010, which has contributed to officer numbers dropping below 30,000 for the first time in 15 years.”

Kohler and his team argued the decision to close police station counters was ‘unlawful’ (PA)

The Metropolitan Police said that although it acknowledged the decision regarding Wimbledon police station required some reconsideration, it was pleased with the overall judgement and looked forward to implementing the closures of front counters which it said were “inefficient”.

“We maintain that the changes to local policing in London, which followed the consultation, were, and remain, necessary to secure an effective and efficient police service across London within our available resources,” said deputy assistant commissioner Mark Simmons.

“Our research showed that many front counters were inefficient and little used while our online crime reporting continues to grow, with 50 per cent more crimes being reported online than in all the front counters we previously operated and with the overwhelming majority of reports being made over the telephone.”

Mr Kohler suffered a fractured eye socket, broken nose and severe internal bleeding at the hands of the attackers in 2014. He had facial reconstruction surgery and continues to have double vision in his left eye.

The men later received jail terms ranging between 13 and 19 years.