Metropolitan Police officers sacked for gross misconduct over athlete search

Jonathan Clapham and Sam Franks were sacked after it was found they lied about smelling cannabis when they pulled over Olympic sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos, 28, and his partner and Team GB athlete Bianca Williams, 29, on July 4 2020.

They were accused of racially profiling the couple alongside fellow Met officers Acting Police Sergeant Rachel Simpson, Pc Allan Casey and Pc Michael Bond.

The police followed the athletes as they drove to their west London home from training with their baby son, then three months old, in the back seat of their Mercedes.

The panel heard they followed Mr Dos Santos in their police carrier because of the “appalling” and “suspicious” nature of his driving and were doing their duty when they conducted the stop and search.

The couple were handcuffed and searched on suspicion of having drugs and weapons after they were pulled over outside their property, but nothing was found.

On Wednesday, the panel found Pc Clapham and Pc Franks had lied about smelling cannabis during the stop and search.

Chairwoman Chiew Yin Jones said their conduct had breached standards of professional behaviour in respect of honesty and integrity and thus amounted to gross misconduct.

The Met officers were part of a territorial support group unit who were tasked with helping to cut priority crime such as gang and knife offences.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) brought the case against the five officers and said that the detention of Mr Dos Santos and Ms Williams was “because they were black” and was “excessive, unreasonable and unjustified”.

Pcs Casey and Bond and Ps Simpson were found not to have breached any standards.

Mr Dos Santos said after the hearing that “very little has changed in policing in London since the Stephen Lawrence case”.

He said: “We’ve supported the IOPC case over the past three years and it’s highlighted what most black people are far too aware of regardless of their background, education and employment. They are nine times more likely to be stopped by the Met and three times more likely to be handcuffed.

“The allegations made by the police officers that I was guilty of bad driving, threatening violence and drugs were dishonest. I believe these are false allegations and were based on racist stereotypes and show very little has changed in policing in London since the Stephen Lawrence case.

“If you can’t trust the police to be honest and accept when they have done bad and stereotype black people, what hope is there? I don’t believe that the panel has been brave enough to review what the Casey report has already clearly stated, which is that the Met Police is institutionally racist.

“This case has taken a big toll on our family and on our careers but it’s crucial that those people who have a voice use it as those people who don’t suffer without being listened to.”

IOPC director Steve Noonan said: “I want to acknowledge Bianca and Ricardo who, having spoken out about their experience, showed considerable patience and determination while they waited for the outcome of their complaint.

“The stop and search in which they were both handcuffed, in front of their infant child, was clearly highly distressing for them and also caused widespread community concern about the use of stop and search powers by police.

“These officers have now been publicly held accountable for their actions. We, at the Independent Office for Police Conduct, decided the officers had a case to answer for their actions and that they should face these misconduct proceedings.”

The misconduct panel found it proven that Ps Simpson asked Pc Franks if he wanted to take Mr Dos Santos into the vehicle carrier to “do a bit of a ferret around his groin and his shoes” to satisfy himself that everything had been searched, but it was found not proven that she breached the standards of professional behaviour in respect of authority, respect and courtesy.

The panel found it not proven that Pc Clapham and Pc Franks breached the standards of professional behaviour in respect of equality and diversity.

Karon Monaghan KC, for the IOPC, told the panel during the course of the hearing that the watchdog’s case was there is “institutional discrimination” in the Met Police.

Mr Dos Santos accused the officers of detaining him for “DWB, driving while black”.

He told the panel while giving evidence that he had been “afraid” for the safety of his partner and his son.

The hearing was told Mr Dos Santos was stopped nine times within four weeks of buying a car in 2018.

When shown body-worn footage of him mocking and swearing at the officers, he accepted his behaviour, saying: “Everybody deals with trauma differently.”

Ms Williams cried as she watched footage of Mr Dos Santos getting pulled from the driver’s seat to the roadside and handcuffed.

She denied suggestions her partner could have acted differently to avoid police attention, insisting that “he can’t change the colour of his skin”.

All five officers gave evidence over the course of the misconduct hearing in which they denied accusations of racism.

Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Ward said: “The misconduct hearing panel, led by an independent legally qualified chair, has heard detailed evidence over five weeks to reach its conclusions today.

“While the panel accepted the officers’ version of events in most matters, including that their decisions were not motivated by ethnicity, it found that PC Clapham and PC Franks lied about smelling drugs on stopping the vehicle.

“Honesty and integrity are at the core of policing and, as the panel has concluded, there can be no place in the Met for officers who do not uphold these values.

“Mr Dos Santos and Ms Williams deserved better and I apologise to them for the distress they have suffered.”