Billy Elliot ballet star sues police for £600,000 after ‘career-ending’ foot stomp

29 September 2025, 16:11 | Updated: 29 September 2025, 16:46

A former Billy Elliot star is suing the Met Police for nearly £600,000 for ruining his dance dreams when a police officer stamped on his foot.

Ballet dancer Alexander Loxton, who played the character of the “older Billy” in the hit West End musical about a young dancing prodigy from County Durham, says he suffered a career-wrecking ankle ligament injury during an unjustified and aggressive stop-and-search by Met Police in September 2016.

The 36-year-old told a judge he has had to abandon his ambitions of reaching the top as a dancer, as he can no longer execute the extreme jump manoeuvres demanded at dancing’s elite level, and is now working in security and plans to become a police community support officer.

Loxton is now suing Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley for almost £600,000 in compensation for his lost career, claiming there was no basis for stopping him, and that the force used against him was unreasonable and unnecessary and to “assault and battery”.

Read more: Royal Ballet and Opera cancels ‘Tosca’ production in Israel after staff backlash

The Commissioner denies all liability, claiming that any injuries resulted from Mr Loxton struggling with the officers who detained him, and that his dance career was already on a downward spiral when he was stopped.

Robert Talalay, a barrister for the police force, accepted that Mr Loxton’s career had “initially shown great promise”. However, he added: “From January 2014, the claimant’s career plainly declined due to three things: injury, refusal by him to work for what he considered low pay, and limited opportunity.”

Fiona Murphy KC, Mr Loxton’s legal representative, suggested he had the potential to establish a place among the “premier league” of ballet companies, pointing out he had starred in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and had also worked with the Dutch National Ballet, as well as performing at Buckingham Palace for the late Queen’s 80th birthday. He also performed with Keira Knightley and Helen Mirren in Disney’s The Nutcracker.

She also argued that, although he had suffered injuries and strains during his career, he had recovered and was re-establishing himself when the altercation with the police occurred.

“His standing in the profession was high and he was considered to have the ability and tenacity to establish a successful professional career in the premier league ballet companies and, in the alternative, with West End musical and film productions,” she explained.

She said his injuries were “permanent and career-ending” despite intensive rehab efforts, adding that Loxton “was and remains unable to tolerate the full repertoire of dance manoeuvres, with particular difficulties in the areas of jumping, changing direction and landing”.

Mr Loxton says the ankle damage occurred during an aggressive stop and search by police after he went to Kennington Police Station to retrieve a stolen motorbike helmet visor in September 2016. He had decided “on the off-chance” to see if a motor scooter which had also been stolen from him was being kept in a gated area behind the building.

His barrister said he was then confronted by a group of officers, one of whom then “challenged him as to his identification, took hold of the claimant’s left arm and tried to force his left arm behind his back”, said Ms Murphy.

“Mr Loxton tensed,” she said, “The officer did not succeed in taking control of the claimant’s left arm. He stamped his foot repeatedly on the claimant’s left foot while pulling on the claimant’s left arm.

“The officer pushed and pulled him about while clamping down on the claimant’s left foot.”

Two other officers apparently then also joined in as Mr Loxton was handcuffed, searched and then “slammed” against a wall, where he was allegedly “struck with blows”.

Once against the wall, one of the officers “continued to search the claimant and as he did so he again repeatedly stamped his foot down on Mr Loxton’s ankle”, said Ms Murphy.

The incident left Mr Loxton with permanent injuries to ligaments in his ankle and soft tissue injuries to his thumb, wrist and fingers. He also said he felt “distress, anxiety, embarrassment, humiliation and degradation”.

Ms Murphy said medical evidence suggested his crucial ankle injury probably occurred when being “manhandled in various directions while (one of the officers) clamped down on Mr Loxton’s left foot”.

Lawyers for the Met insist that the former dancer had a “rude and aggressive demeanour” when police officers asked him to move on and that he tried to walk away when they asked to search him.

Defence barrister, Mr Talalay said that when Mr Loxton was placed against a wall to be searched he resisted the police efforts, leading one of the officers to “place his foot on Mr Loxton’s left foot to keep him in place”.

“The officers’ evidence is clear that Mr Loxton – a strong young man – was actively and forcefully resisting the search and required five officers and staff to control him before he could be searched,” he said.

“In those circumstances, the force used by the officers was reasonable and proportionate. The court is invited to conclude that the claimant was the author of his own fate in this case and that it was his behaviour that made the force used necessary and at that level.”