Two former Metropolitan Police officers have been handed their jobs back after winning an appeal against a ruling that they had lied about a stop and search incident involving British athlete Bianca Williams.
Former Met PCs Jonathan Clapham and Sam Franks were dismissed in October last year after a disciplinary panel found that they had lied about smelling cannabis when they stopped a car in which Olympic sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos and his partner Ms Williams were travelling.
The finding has been overturned by the Police Appeals Tribunal, which found that the original decision had been “irrational” and “inconsistent”.
Former PCs Clapham and Franks were “dedicated, hardworking and much-respected officers” whose reputations had been “ruined” by the original findings, the appeals tribunal chair Damien Moore said.
“Both officers did not lie,” Mr Moore continued. “Both officers will now be reinstated to the Met Police. They should receive back pay.”
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Dos Santos said he now planned to challenge the outcome of the “disappointing” decision in the civil courts.
Hugh Davies, representing former PC Clapham, told the appeals tribunal on Thursday that the officers had “every reason to suspect criminality” when they pulled Mr Dos Santos over. “Look at how he had driven. Fifteen seconds to get out of the car. His whole attitude,” he said.
Mr Davies said another officer at the scene had claimed to have smelled cannabis, but was not found to have lied.
The stop and search occurred on 4 July 2020, when the police followed the athletes as they drove back from training to their west London home with their baby son, then three months old, in the back seat of their Mercedes.
During the incident, officers handcuffed the couple and they were searched on suspicion of carrying drugs and weapons, but nothing was found.
The couple claimed they had been racially profiled.
The force came under heavy criticism after footage of the stop was posted on social media. It showed a distressed Ms Williams, who was concerned about being separated from her baby.
In October last year, misconduct panel chair Chiew Yin Jones said the conduct of PCs Clapham and Franks had breached standards of professional behaviour in respect of honesty and integrity, and that this amounted to gross misconduct. They were then sacked.
In the wake of their dismissal, an online appeal raised more than £150,000 for the officers.
A spokesperson for the Independent Office for Police Conduct said: “We note the outcome today of the officers’ appeal and await the written decision by the Police Appeals Tribunal.”
At the Paris Olympics this summer, Ms Williams was part of the women’s 4x100m quartet heat that qualified for the final and went on to win a silver medal.
