Friend of mine was sectioned a few years ago, but only recently realised they were in fact arrested.
It was a severe psychosis so a bit of a blur for them, but they were arrested for an assault in their home and came to in a psych ward. They didn’t even realise they had been arrested and not just sectioned until recently.
This was was 2 and a half years ago now. They’d never been in trouble with the law before and the victim was not injured and did not wish to make a complaint.
They remember being cuffed and taken to a police station in cuffs and standing somewhere for a few minutes (though could have been a few hours) and being watched by two police officers before the cuffs came off and they were driven to a psychiatric ward and put on a section.
My friend is curious if they were “de-arrested” in this context, for visa purposes. So they don’t have to declare anything as the arrest was never formally processed. They never received any follow up at all from the police regarding the incident. No paperwork, nothing. A witness recently told my friend that they were read their rights in their home etc… but they were so unwell they don’t even remember it and they’re a bit upset to find out they were arrested first rather than straight up sectioned. What would the likely procedure be here for this? Would there be an arrest on record, or would it be a de-arrest in the above context? My friend’s understanding is that a dearrest doesn’t “count” as an arrest for visa purposes, so doesn’t need to be declared (though of course that’s a whole separate topic).