George Wilson, from Wallasey, Merseyside (Picture: Liverpool Echo)

Everyone’s going to be emptying out their pockets the next time they pass a homeless person after a former law student received £5,000 after giving just £1.

OK, George Wilson didn’t exactly receive the sum as a result of his generosity in Liverpool city centre.

Instead, he was awarded the money in an out-of-court settlement after police officers detained him unlawfully.

MORE: You can now rent the flat from Spaced for 500% more than Tim and Daisy paid


Authorities thought the 20-year-old was swapping drugs with a vagrant so slapped some handcuffs on him in the early hours of January 11 last year.



But a quick thinking Wilson managed to make a voice recording of the incident on his phone.

Mr Wilson, who attended Liverpool John Moores University at the time, told officers he was a student of the law, to which one of them said: ‘Look, buddy, if I lock you up for being drunk and disorderly, because that’s what you are being, you won’t be a student of the law any more.

‘I’ll take that off you. So shut your mouth and stop being stupid.’

He replied: ‘I haven’t committed disorder. I’ve been polite. I’ve been respectful.’

Mr Wilson alleged the police officer then said: ‘That’s not how I’ll write it up, pal.’

The officer denied threatening to falsify a statement and an investigation by Merseyside Police concluded the words could be interpreted differently and the officer was advised not to use them again.

It was upheld that once the homeless man had been searched and no drugs were found, Mr Wilson should have been released and as such he was detained for longer than necessary.

MORE: Where are you most likely to be pickpocketed on the tube?

MORE: There’s a group of heroes risking their lives to free ISIS sex slaves