Bianca Williams: Two Met officers sacked over athlete search gross misconduct

Two Met Police officers have been sacked after carrying out a stop-and-search of two athletes which a tribunal found amounted to gross misconduct.

British world championships medallist Bianca Williams, 29, and Portugal Olympic sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos, 28, say they were racially profiled.

They were handcuffed and searched outside their west London home while their baby was in the car in July 2020.

All allegations against three other officers were not proven.

Speaking after the conclusion of the officers’ disciplinary hearing, Mr Dos Santos said: “Little has changed in policing in London since the Stephen Lawrence case.”

During the incident, the couple were pulled over by officers in Maida Vale as they returned from a training session and searched on suspicion of having drugs and weapons, but nothing was found.

Ms Williams filmed the incident and their coach, the British former 100m Olympic champion Linford Christie, posted the footage online, leading to it being shared widely on social media.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the panel’s findings would “anger and alarm many Londoners”, and “just shows the scale of the challenge the new leadership team have to change the culture of the Met”.

He called for lessons to be learned and said he would support the police force to deliver “urgent improvements”.

Five Met officers were accused of gross misconduct, which they denied.

The hearing found two – PC Jonathan Clapham and PC Sam Franks – had lied about smelling cannabis in Mr Dos Santos’ car and so had breached professional standards of police behaviour in relation to honesty and integrity.

The panel said it was likely the smell had emanated from another area.

The hearing was told those officers were “not seen to attempt to verify the smell”, which led to them becoming “trapped in a lie” when they gave evidence.

Panel chairwoman Chiew Yin Jones said their behaviour amounted to gross misconduct.

The other three officers, Acting Sgt Rachel Simpson, PC Allan Casey and PC Michael Bond were found by the panel not to have committed gross misconduct and all allegations against them were not proven.

Ms Williams and Mr Dos Santos complained to the police watchdog about what had happened to them, saying they had been racially profiled because Mr Dos Santos was “DWB, driving while black” in a Mercedes. The watchdog brought a case against the officers.

Karon Monaghan KC, for the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), told the disciplinary panel at the start of the hearing that the watchdog’s case would say there was “institutional discrimination” in the Met Police.

Mr Dos Santos told the panel while giving evidence that he had been “afraid” for the safety of his partner and his three-month-old son.

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

Mr Dos Santos was stopped nine times within four weeks of buying a car in 2018, the panel heard.

Earlier this year, Ms Williams won bronze in the 4x100m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

She also won gold in the same discipline at the European Championships in 2018 and silver in 2016.

At the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and 2018, she won 4x100m gold representing England.

Mr Dos Santos competed at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics in the 400m.

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