Reinstated staff may sue Leeds over arrest

Three employees of Leeds Metropolitan University who were suspended late last year after being arrested on suspicion of drug dealing, returned to work this week.

But the staff, two cleaners and a security guard, are threatening to sue the university because they say they were wrongfully arrested after being caught on covert surveillance cameras. One was released without charge, a second was released on police bail pending inquiries into another unrelated matter, and the third was charged with possession of cannabis.

A university spokeswoman said the police had advised the university to install surveillance cameras because of suspicions of drug dealing on one campus. "Full disciplinary procedures have been followed and no one has lost their job," she said.

The use of covert surveillance, she said, had raised concerns among some members of staff but stressed that this was only the third time such an operation had been mounted at the university.

She added that closed-circuit television surveillance is routinely used - as it is on most campuses - and that this was clearly signposted.