A HUMAN rights campaigner has spoken out about the perils of ignoring the law after a boss, who carried out a citizen’s arrest on a worker who had stolen from him, was forced to pay out £13,000.

Roger Smith, director of legal campaign group Justice, said everyone – including criminals and suspected criminals – had rights and no one should take the law into their own hands.

He was speaking after Simon Cremer, who runs a floor-fitting business in Witham, revealed he had settled a damages case launched by ex-employee Mark Gilbert.

Mr Cremer frogmarched Gilbert through Witham with a sign round his neck calling him a thief.

Mr Smith said: “It is not an airy-fairy thing, human rights.

“We ignore the due process of law at our peril because it will come back to bite us if we do not get it right.

“The police are there to investigate and the state prosecutes.

“If people are not happy about the way cases are investigated and prosecuted, they can and should complain.

“But we don’t want a society where people take responsibility for doing that sort of thing themselves.”