The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) has dropped the case of a lawyer wrongly accused of indecent exposure even though he never got the apology from the Police that it recommended.

The PCA said a formal apology plus disciplinary action were both needed over "glaring inadequacies" in the investigation of Simon Farmer, 53.

However, a year has passed since that recommendation, with nothing forthcoming from the Police. Now, the PCA has told Mr. Farmer it's not going to pursue his complaint any further.

Responding to the news, he told The Royal Gazette: "They have essentially folded their tent on the field of battle and closed the case in the face of Bermuda Police Service intransigence leaving me, the complainant, amazed, exasperated and completely unsatisfied."

The saga began back in November 2003 when Mr. Farmer was arrested over an incident where a man was said to have peered in through a window at a residential complex in Paget while committing a lewd act.

Mr. Farmer, a British citizen who had spent 22 years working in Bermuda up until then, was charged but pleaded not guilty to indecent exposure and prowling. 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 took him to court without reasonable cause and without properly investigating and assessing the facts.

Among his complaints were that they failed to take account of flaws in an eyewitness statement and that a Police officer told him 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 2008. The Court of Appeal said malice something that goes beyond negligence in the eyes of the law had not been proven.

Mr. Farmer, who is now living in England, described the outcome as disappointing. However, he continued to wait on the complaint he lodged with the PCA, which was suspended while the court action progressed.

The PCA eventually sent a letter to the Police on October 6, 2008, recommending disciplinary measures "as this complaint rests on abuse of process and shows glaring inadequacies in the Police investigation. Furthermore, the Police Complaints Authority strongly recommends an immediate formal apology be made to the complainant for what he has endured."

But Mr. Farmer is still waiting for the apology and has never been notified of any disciplinary action.

He said he was disappointed to receive a letter dated September 30, 2009, from the PCA telling him it had "taken into consideration the efforts it has expended on your complaint" and that "much correspondence has been entered into over the years to the Bermuda Police Service" but decided "with regret" that the matter should be closed.

The PCA does have power to take action against the Commissioner of Police over unresolved complaints if it wishes to, by sending a report to the Minister of Public Safety and the Governor.

It can even ask for the matter to be tabled in Parliament if it deems fit. However, it decided to drop Mr. Farmer's case under a section of the Police Complaints Authority Act that allows it to take no further action if it is deemed unnecessary or inappropriate.

Mr. Farmer does not believe he can take his complaint any further, but commented: "I think concerned residents (of Bermuda) should be worried about a Police service which is clearly not of the best quality and a court system that doesn't really provide any realistic tools for aggrieved people...this really is a matter of public concern. Individuals and their civil liberties are not being looked after."

Neither the Police nor the Police Complaints Authority responded to requests for comment.