Met cops who handcuffed and searched Bianca Williams face gross misconduct hearings

27 April 2022, 10:09 | Updated: 27 April 2022, 12:44

Metropolitan Police officers who handcuffed sprinter Bianca Williams during a stop and search are set to face gross misconduct hearings amid allegations they treated her differently because her race.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has found that there is a case to answer for gross misconduct against five Met Police officers over the July 2020 stop and search of Ms Williams and her partner, Ricardo dos Santos.

Five officers, four PCs and an acting Sergeant at the time of the incident, will answer allegations they breached professional standards relating to duties and responsibilities, use of force, equality and diversity, order and instructions and authority, respect and courtesy and honesty and integrity.

Ms Williams, a Commonwealth gold medallist, was stopped by police as she and Mr Santos drove through Maida Vale, west London, with their baby son.

They were handcuffed by officers who even placed their three-month-old son's details on a safeguarding database, called Merlin.

Nothing was found during the search, which the Met said was carried out by officers patrolling the area in response to an increase in violence involving weapons.

Read more: Met Police apologises to GB sprinter Bianca Williams for 'distressing' stop-and-search

Met Police apologises to Bianca Williams for 'distressing' search

The officers involved are understood to deny wrongdoing and will contest the charges.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Bas Javid, from the Met’s Directorate of Professionalism, said: “I acknowledge the IOPC’s direction in this case. We have co-operated fully with the IOPC’s investigation and, in accordance with their direction, are now arranging for an independently-led misconduct hearing to take place.

“I am sorry for the distress that this incident clearly caused Ms Williams and Mr Dos Santos.”

The incident was filmed and placed on social media, with a row erupting over the stop and search.

The couple accused officers of "racial profiling" but Scotland Yard insisted its officers had done nothing wrong.

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IOPC regional director Sal Naseem said: “All five officers – an acting police sergeant and four police constables - will face allegations they breached police standards of professional behaviour for duties and responsibilities and for equality and diversity.

“Four of them also face allegations that they breached the standards for use of force and for authority, respect and courtesy.

“Three of the five – all police constables – will face allegations that they breached the standards for honesty and integrity and one will face an allegation they breached the police standards of professional behaviour for orders and instructions.

“These matters were assessed as gross misconduct so it will be for the disciplinary panel, led by an independent legally qualified chair to determine whether or not the allegations are proven.

“A sixth officer will attend a misconduct meeting for alleged breaches of the standards for authority, respect and courtesy, duties and responsibilities and for use of force, assessed as misconduct.”

Following the incident, Ms Williams told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast she believed they were stopped because the car was "all black".

"They took me away from my son. That hurts more than anything," she told Nick, recalling the moment outside her home when officers pulled her and her partner Riccardo out of the family car, handcuffing them, and telling them they could smell cannabis.

"We were going home normally from training... it's the normal shortcut if there is a ridiculous amount of traffic," she said, adding that she believed they had actually been stopped because the car was "all black".

Read more: Athlete Bianca Williams says she plans to sue after accusing police of ‘racial profiling’

Met Commissioner: The stop-and-search of sprinter Bianca Williams wasn't racist

The Met apologised to Ms Williams at the time for the "distressing" stop-and-search which left the sprinter visibly and audibly distressed.

However, the then Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said two separate teams had thoroughly reviewed the incident and found there was no apparent misconduct by officers.

She also claimed that "any officer worth their salt would have stopped that car".

The IOPC went to the Met with its recommendations that five officers should face gross misconduct charges last month, following its investigation.

Gross misconduct is the highest level of disciplinary charge a police officer can face. A sixth Met officer has been recommended by the IOPC to face a misconduct charge.

The hearings will be led by a legally qualified chair who is entirely independent from the Met.