According to The Guardian, photographer David Hoffman was covering the G20 protests last year when he was struck several times in the face by a police shield. Hoffman, who "suffered fractured teeth" as a result of the incident, brought a legal claim against the Metropolitan Police. The claim has now been settled out of court.

"Journalists such as my client are critical in disseminating information into the wider public domain," says Chez Cotton, Hoffman's solicitor, in a statement published by The Guardian. "Reporters and photojournalists play a significant role recording political unrest, political events, which includes recording protest and, if it arises, police wrongdoing."

The Metropolitan Police has since apologised, and awarded £30,000 to the photographer. "The Metropolitan Police Service recognise that Mr Hoffman was entitled to report on that day but was caused injury by an MPS officer during the event, preventing him from doing so," reads the apology.

However, Hoffman tells BJP that the emphasis shouldn't be on him but on the police. "It's only luck that hot me some kind of justice in this," he says. "There must be many more cases where the victim is unable to hold the Met to account."

For the National Union of Journalists, he adds: "Assaults such as this stem from a small proportion of rogue officers within the Met who let down their colleagues by their vindictive and spiteful behaviour. However the bond of loyalty between serving officers effectively prevents these few criminal police officers facing any charges. The culture of impunity that this generates within the police is corrosive, undermines the work of decent, careful police officers and is something that all journalists need to challenge."

It's not the first time that the Metropolitan Police has been forced to compensate a photographer as a result of such an incident. In 2008, the force settled out of court a claim brought by freelance photographer Marc Vallée. Vallée suffered back injuries after police officers alledgedly threw him to the curb while he was covering the unlawful 'Sack Parliament' protest in London on 09 October 2006.