Acting Assistant Com-missioner of Police, Owen Ellington, on Wednesday lost his legal battle in the Supreme Court to recover millions of dollars in damage from the Government.

The suit stemmed from a charge, which was brought against him in December 1996 for conspiracy to defraud an insurance company, when he was a superintendent.

Mrs. Justice Marva McDonald-Bishop, after hearing legal arguments, threw out Ellington's case and ordered him to pay the Government's legal costs.

Attorney-at-law Richard Small, who represented Ellington, said on Wednesday that Ellington was considering whether he should appeal the matter.

No malice

Government lawyers Simone Mayhew and Jerome Spencer had asked the judge to dismiss the suit because Assistant Commissioner of Police Osburne Dyer did not act with malice when he arrested and charged Ellington. They said statements were collected and the file sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions who ruled that Ellington should be charged.

Ellington was charged jointly with Corporal Errol 'Schoolboy' Richards and Janice Bernard but the latter two were convicted of the charge and each sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.

The three were charged with conspiracy to defraud Jamaica General Insurance Company Ltd. of money through false representation that a Toyota Corolla motor car had been stolen. ACP Ellington was freed on September 10, 1998 of the charge.

He contended that there was no reasonable cause for the charge to have been brought against him. He filed a suit in 2000 against the Attorney-General and ACP Dyer (now retired), contending that the defendants acted maliciously in prosecuting him.

Acting ACP Ellington, who has 26 years service in the police force, contended that the charge retarded his scope for promotion.