Strip-search of girl should be gross misconduct case - London mayor

A strip-search of a 15-year-old girl by police at her school in east London should be looked at as a case of gross misconduct, the mayor of London says.

Teachers at her Hackney school called the Met Police after wrongly suspecting her of carrying cannabis in 2020.

A safeguarding report this month found the search was unjustified and racism was "likely" to have been a factor.

Sadiq Khan has written to the head of the police watchdog urging him to consider a case of gross misconduct.

However, the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) said its investigation was complete and its report was being "finalised".

In a statement, Mr Khan said he was "disgusted and angered" at the "extremely traumatic" incident, which happened to the 15-year-old girl at her secondary school.

Scotland Yard has said the officers' actions were "regrettable" and it "should never have happened".

During the incident, the girl was taken out of an exam to the school's medical room and strip-searched by two female Met police officers, while teachers remained outside. No other adult was present and her parents were not contacted.

Her intimate body parts were exposed and she was made to take off her sanitary towel, according to the review. No drugs were found.

The victim's mother told the safeguarding review that after the strip-search, her daughter had been "asked to go back into the exam" she had been sitting with no teacher asking about her welfare.

Her family said the girl had changed from "top of the class" to "a shell of her former bubbly self", and she was now self-harming and required therapy.

In his letter to the director general of the IOPC, Michael Lockwood, Mr Khan said he understood the watchdog had made an "initial severity assessment of 'misconduct' for the officers involved in this case and this was agreed with the Metropolitan Police Service".

He continued: "I am aware that your investigation has almost reached a conclusion, and will now be considered by the decision maker."

He urged Mr Lockwood to "consider in detail" the safeguarding review, particularly that racism had a role, adding: "allegations of discrimination would normally be considered at the level of gross misconduct" in line with statutory guidelines.

Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbot told the BBC on Wednesday that "racism absolutely played a part".

The safeguarding review stated that in 2020-2021, there were 25 searches of under-18s in the same borough.

Ms Abbott previously said "only two of those 25 under-18 searches were white, the figures tell you this is about race".

Domestic abuse campaigners from charity Sistah Space said the strip-search was "sexual assault" and "everybody involved" should face charges.

The IOPC said in a statement "all lines of inquiry" had now been completed and its report was being finalised.

It added three police constables had been served with notices last year advising them they were under investigation for misconduct, "over their roles in either carrying out the strip search or involvement in supervising it".

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