Ruling: Lord Justice Pill

Police forces could face a flood of compensation claims after judges ruled that most of their property searches over at least the past 20 years were illegal.

Officers wrongly assume they only need to believe – rather than prove – that a property is linked to a suspect in order to search it, appeal judges said.

The Met Police warned that the decision made their search powers 'unworkable' and left them open to trespass claims.

The saga began in April 2006 when pol­ice arrested a man for theft. They raided his address in Leyton, east London, using section 18 of the 1984 Police and Crim­inal Evidence Act, under which three-quarters of all police searches are made.

But he had given the wrong address and homeowner Riaz Khan sued police.

Mr Khan argued the search was unlawful because police had not proved the suspect 'occupied or controlled' the house.

He won £1,250 damages in November. The Met Police went to the Court of App­eal, claiming the county court ruling was 'abs­urd'.

'It is very difficult to see how the police could ever be sure of a person's add­ress unless they arrested a person at the address,' Mr Rajeev Shetty, the Met's counsel, told the court.

But Lord Justice Pill said police could always apply for a search warrant, adding: 'I find nothing absurd in the construction favoured by the judge. The power in section 18 is more limited than the police contend.'

He also denied police leave to appeal further.