A British lawyer wrongly accused of indecent exposure is angry that he's had no decision on his complaint against the Police more than four years after filing it.

Simon Farmer, 52, was charged over an alleged incident in November 2003 when a man was said to have peered in through a window at a residential complex in Paget while masturbating.

He pleaded not guilty to indecent exposure and prowling and a Magistrate subsequently acquitted him, ruling there was no case to answer.

Mr. Farmer later launched an action for malicious prosecution. In it, he claimed the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Police prosecuted him without reasonable cause and without properly investigating and assessing the facts.

Among his complaints were that they failed to take account of flaws in the eyewitness statement founding the prosecution and that a Police officer told him while he was in custody that he believed him to be guilty.

Mr. Farmer also claimed the Police failed to check his alibi statement and potential witnesses in support of it, and failed to inform him before trial that DNA analysis of a blood sample did not implicate him.

The malicious prosecution case was struck out by the Supreme Court in February 2007 and Mr. Farmer lost an appeal in June this year. He described that outcome as disappointing, telling this newspaper at the time: "I don't think most people expect that they would be charged with alleged crimes when the Police haven't actually done any investigation."

In addition to suing for malicious prosecution, Mr. Farmer filed a complaint to the then Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith in July 2004 which Mr. Smith forwarded to the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) that autumn.

In it, Mr. Farmer accused the investigating officers of failing in their duty to investigate properly — which led to him enduring what he described as: "Six months of lurid headlines, five court appearances, legal fees and all the resulting personal anxiety."

Having been arrested in Paget while waiting at a bus stop on the night of the incident, he also asked: "Can you now reassure the Bermuda public that this was an aberration in Police procedure and practices or is anyone in danger of being similarly treated if they happen to be passing by such an incident?"

Mr. Farmer, who spent 22 years working in Bermuda before leaving in 2003, said yesterday that he's yet to hear of any outcome.

"I made enquiries as to the progress of this complaint in person when I was revisiting the Island in June 2005, and subsequently by e-mail to the relevant parties until autumn 2006, but in spite of these I have never heard a word from the PCA in formal acknowledgement of my complaint or advising as to the status of the complaint," he alleged.

"As this is a procedure for the protection of the public from Police wrongdoings with staff paid for by the taxpayer I think it would be in the public's interest to discover why the PCA has now spent nearly four years in failing to acknowledge, let alone deal with, this serious complaint."

He added: "It will be a pretty sorry state of affairs for the Island if the victim of wilful incompetence by the Police can neither hope realistically for any redress in the courts nor any correctional action from the statutory body set up to deal with such failings."

Mr. Farmer is now considering going to the Ombudsman, who investigates complaints made by members of the public about government departments, boards, other public authorities and bodies funded by the legislature.

Michelle St. Jane, chair of the Police Complaints Authority, said Mr. Farmer's case will be discussed when it reconvenes on September 30 after the summer break.

"In the meantime I can assure that The Police Complaints Authority has carefully considered the case when it came to their attention and the previous chair has indicated that The Police Complaints Authority spent considerable time on this complaint.

"As a point of information when a complaint is before the courts The Police Complaints Authority does suspend the matter pending the outcome of prosecution or the complainant pursuing legal options.

"Once my committee meets and considers the court decisions then The Police Complaints Authority can revisit and follow up with the Bermuda Police Service."