WAR veteran John Catt has vowed to take his battle to the European Court of Human Rights.

He said this is “for the sake of other innocent people whose lawful political activities are being monitored by the state”.

Mr Catt told The Argus: “I didn’t expect to be successful because the state is working against me and the authorities don’t like me. This is an example of the erosion of freedom and a violation of private life. It is abusive collecting data and it is data control. I will not give up.”

Mr Catt first took legal action after ACPO refused his request to permanently delete all the data about him. The database is maintained by the National Public Order Intelligence Unit, originally under the supervision of ACPO, and now under the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

Previous Court of Appeal judges said the information about Mr Catt was at first retained lawfully, but ruled it was held for a “disproportionate” length of time, violating Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

But during the latest proceedings police lawyers said continuing to keep the details was still lawful.