Met police officers get their jobs back after they win appeal against sacking for stop-and-search of Team GB athlete Bianca Williams and her boyfriend
Two Metropolitan Police officers have been handed their jobs back after winning an appeal following their sacking for the stop-and-search of Team GB athlete Bianca Williams and her boyfriend.
Two Metropolitan Police officers have been handed their jobs back after winning an appeal following their sacking for the stop-and-search of Team GB athlete Bianca Williams and her boyfriend.
Former Met PCs Jonathan Clapham and Sam Franks were dismissed in October last year after a disciplinary panel found they had lied about smelling cannabis when they pulled over the Olympic sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos and his partner Williams.
But the finding has now been overturned by the Police Appeals Tribunal which found the original decision was irrational and inconsistent.
Former Pcs Clapham and Franks were dedicated, hard-working and much respected officers whose reputations had been ruined by the original findings, Appeals Tribunal chairman Damien Moore said.
He added: Both officers did not lie. Both officers will now be reinstated to the Met Police. They should receive back-pay.
Ricardo Dos Santos is handcuffed in Maida Vale, north London, in July 2020 while driving along with their baby
Sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos being stopped and searched by Met Police officers on July 4, 2020
Athletes Bianca Williams and Ricardo Dos Santos walking to speak to the media after the judgement was given for the gross misconduct hearing in October last year
The police officers followed the athletes as they drove back from training to their west London home with their baby son in the back seat of their Mercedes.
During the incident, officers handcuffed the couple and they were searched on suspicion of having drugs and weapons, but nothing was found.
The force came under heavy criticism after footage of the stop was posted on social media, showing a distressed Williams who was concerned about being separated from her baby.
Hugh Davies, representing Clapham, said yesterday the officers had every reason to suspect criminality when they pulled Dos Santos over.
Look at how he had driven. Fifteen seconds to get out of the car. His whole attitude.
Mr Davies said another officer at the scene had smelt cannabis, but was not found to have lied.
These findings are inherently unreasonable, he continued.
There was a smell of cannabis.
The couple were stopped by police when their son (centre) was in the backseat
Sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos being stopped and searched by Met Police officers on July 4, 2020
In August last year, Mr Dos Santos revealed he had been pulled over by police again two years after the original stop and search
Its unreasonable to assume Clapham did not smell cannabis in the area and lied about it.
The idea that an officer of (Claphams) character should lose his career is contrary to all fair sense.
He is a person who is an absolute credit to the police.
Misconduct panel chairwoman in the original case Chiew Yin Jones said Clapham and Franks conduct had breached standards of professional behaviour in respect of honesty and integrity and this amounted to gross misconduct. They were then sacked.
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.
After the hearing at the time, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Ward said: 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.
In the wake of their dismissal, an online appeal raised more than £150,000 for the officers.
In August 2022 Mr Dos Santos revealed he had been pulled over by police again two years after the original stop and search. He shared three clips on Twitter, including one of an officer withdrawing his extendable baton
Speaking out after the October 2023 hearing which led to the officers dismissal, Mr Dos Santos said: 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 cant trust the police to be honest and accept when they have done bad and stereotype black people, what hope is there? I dont 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 its crucial that those people who have a voice use it as those people who dont suffer without being listened to.
In August 2022 Mr Dos Santos revealed he had been pulled over by police again two years after the original stop and search.
He shared three clips on Twitter, including one of an officer withdrawing his extendable baton, and said seven armed police had stopped his £57,000 Tesla.
Mr Dos Santos noted in October 2023 that black people were nine times more likely to be stopped and searched in London.
At the Paris Olympics this summer, Williams was part of the womens 4x100m quartet heat that qualified for the final and went on to win a silver medal.
