A woman who was forcibly strip-searched by five police officers and left naked in a cell while a camera broadcast the images into the custody suite has been awarded £37,000 in damages by the Metropolitan police.
The woman, a young professional who worked in the PR industry, was arrested and taken into a police cell after being found in a distressed and confused state outside a club in Notting Hill, west London.
One officer at Chelsea police station was heard to say to the custody sergeant: “Are we stripping this one?” The sergeant replied: “Yeah.”
The woman – then 22 - had been out at the Supper Club in Notting Hill at lunchtime one day in March 2011. She remembered sitting at the bar and having a drink, then later having another at her table. She was later found collapsed in the toilets, and was taken outside the club by her friends, where she became very distressed and was seen running around on the street. An ambulance and the police were called.
When the police arrived the woman was arrested and taken to a cell. She said: “My drink had been spiked and the police should have helped me. Instead I remember being in a cell with strange men putting their hands on me and taking my clothes off. I believed I was being raped and remember screaming in fear.”
The investigation into the incident revealed that the woman was held down in the cell by four male police officers and a female officer. Every item of her clothing was forcibly removed, and her bra was cut from the front of her body. She was then left naked in the cell for half-an-hour with the CCTV camera broadcasting the images back to the custody desk.
She later woke in a hospital bed with no memory of what had happened and minus her clothes. Now 26, the woman said she believed the officers had treated her in the way they did because she was black. According to the woman, when she came round in hospital she spoke to the police officer at her bedside, who said she was very well spoken and asked where she was born. When the woman replied: “Hampstead”, the officer radioed a colleague and was overheard saying: “I think we made a mistake..”
The woman complained to police but was not satisfied by the Met police’s response. She then took her complaint to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which two years ago recommended that the custody sergeant face a gross misconduct hearing and five constables faced misconduct charges. But the Met did not issue gross misconduct proceedings against the custody sergeant. She faced proceedings for the less serious disciplinary charge of misconduct.
The IPCC said the custody sergeant had failed to make any record of the strip-search or to ensure it was carried out in accordance with codes in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (Pace). The woman’s solicitors brought a claim against the police for assault, breach of human rights and misfeasance in public office.
Four years after the incident – and two years after the IPCC found the police had breached Pace – the Met has agreed to settle with the woman and paid her £37,000 in damages. They have not issued an apology.
Claire Hilder, from Hodge Jones and Allen, which represented the woman, said: “My client was subjected to a humiliating ordeal at a time when she was clearly vulnerable and in need of medical attention. The officers involved acted in clear breach of professional regulations, taking an unjustified, callous and cavalier approach to the strip-search. This incident has caused her signficiant and lasting distress.
“These violations were totally unjustified and whilst we welcome this settlement my client has as yet received no apology.”
The woman, who now works abroad, criticised the length of time it had taken to settle the issue. She said: “It has taken four years for the Metropolitan police to give me any acknowledgement that the way I was treated was unacceptable. I hope I can now put this behind me and get on with my life.”
A spokesman for the Met said: “The claim arose from an arrest in March 2011. Officers arrested a woman for a public order offence. She was charged and bailed to court for four counts of assault on a constable. The matter was discontinued due to insufficient evidence. We do not disclose settlement amounts.”