Two Met Police officers are found guilty of gross misconduct over stop and search of black athletes Bianca Williams and her partner Ricardo Dos Santos

Two Metropolitan Police constables were today found guilty of gross misconduct today over the stop-and-search of black athletes Bianca Williams and her partner Ricardo Dos Santos. 

The Team GB star, 29, and her Olympic sprinter partner, 28, made a complaint to the police watchdog saying they were racially profiled during an encounter with a group of officers on July 4, 2020. 

Five officers – Acting Police Sergeant Rachel Simpson, Pc Allan Casey, Pc Jonathan Clapham, Pc Michael Bond and Pc Sam Franks – were accused of breaching police standards during the stop and search and all gave evidence over the course of the misconduct hearing in which they denied accusations of racism.

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.

Sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos being stop and searched by Met Police officers on July 4, 2020

Ricardo Dos Santos and Bianca Williams at Palestra House in central London, where today’s verdicts were delivered 

Today, 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.

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

Footage of the incident, which was widely shared on social media, showed Williams, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, handcuffed and in a distressed state, leading to accusations the couple had been stopped simply because they were black and in a smart car 

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said that the detention of Mr Dos Santos and Ms Williams was ‘because they were black’ and was ‘excessive, unreasonable and unjustified’.

Karon Monaghan KC, for the IOPC, told the panel at the start of the hearing that the watchdog’s case will say there is ‘institutional discrimination’ in the Met Police.

The IOPC’s case relied on wider documents and reports that indicated black people are ‘much more likely’ to be stopped and searched in London more generally, and that black people are ‘routinely treated’ with ‘more suspicion and hostility’ by police officers and ‘stereotyped as criminal’.

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.

Team GB athlete Williams (left) and her Portuguese partner Dos Santos (right) were detained by the Met Police in west London with their son (centre) in the backseat

When asked why he should be afraid of the police, the sprinter told of his ‘traumatic experiences’ as a young black person who had been stopped by police on ‘multiple occasions’ in the past.

He said he believes he is stereotyped as a black man driving a ‘nice car’ as someone who ‘must be engaged in criminality’, the misconduct hearing was told.

The panel heard 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.

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