The media is always telling us of people who have been charged with offences in court and then found not guilty. As far as claiming compensation for this, it is not a cut and dried case. You can only claim compensation if you can prove you were the victim of malicious prosecution. There are four main instances of situations this applies to and you have to have been a victim of all four to make a claim.
Harm or Damage Caused to You by The Prosecution
You must show that;
The prosecution has caused damage to your reputation
You were charged with a crime that carried a jail sentence
Defending your case has cost you a great deal of money
You Won Your Case By;
Being found not guilty by a jury
The case being dropped before it reached court
The magistrates found no grounds for your case to proceed to trial in a crown court
You were initially found guilty but then freed on appeal
The Police Not Having Reasonable or Probable Cause to Try and Prosecute You
This is tricky as you have to prove the following two things which are the hardest of them all;
That the police never believed you to be guilty
There was never a good reason why the police would believe you to be guilty
The Police Acted In A Malicious Way Towards You
You must prove that you were prosecuted by the police for malicious reasons only, ie, they had an unacceptable reason for the prosecution. This is generally done in one of 2 ways; either you refer to something said by a police officer or prove that the circumstances around your prosecution clearly show that the police didn’t act properly.
As well as malicious prosecution, you can also claim compensation for what is known as a miscarriage of justice. This is when you are found guilty but new facts come to light at a later date which proves you are innocent or casts too much doubt on your guilt for you not to be freed.