Fired officers reinstated after appeal over stop-and-search of Bianca Williams

Police officers Jonathan Clapham and Sam Franks were fired in October 2023 after their search of Williams and Portuguese sprinter Ricardo dos Santos.

• Eastern Eye
• 10 October, 2024

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By: Eastern Eye

TWO former London police officers who were fired for their stop and search of two athletes were handed their jobs back last Friday (4) after successfully appealing their dismissal.

Police officers Jonathan Clapham and Sam Franks were fired in October 2023 after their search of British athlete and Olympic silver-medallist Bianca Williams and Portuguese sprinter Ricardo dos Santos.

The couple were driving home from training with their baby in 2020 when police pulled them over, handcuffed and searched them on suspicion of having drugs and weapons.

Nothing was found and the officers were referred to a disciplinary panel by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

The panel concluded last year that the officers had lied about smelling cannabis.

However, the ruling was overturned by the Police Appeals Tribunal last Friday (4), which said the initial decision was “irrational” and “inconsistent”, and that the officers “did not lie”.

“The evidence was not good enough or strong enough to allow such a devastating conclusion,” the panel decided, granting the officers back-pay. Clapham and Franks were “dedicated, hard-working and respected officers” whose reputations were “ruined” by the original findings, the tribunal chairman said.

Dos Santos said the couple will challenge the “disappointing” decision in civil courts.

“Our drive home from training in 2020, with our baby, should never have turned into a violent incident where we were wrongly accused of smelling of drugs,” Dos Santos said in a statement after the tribunal hearing.

“We are professional athletes, we pride ourselves on not doing drugs,” he added.

Rick Prior, head of the Metropolitan Police Federation said “justice has been served”. “PC Jonathan Clapham and PC Sam Franks have today been fully exonerated and their reputations have rightly been restored,” Prior added.

He also accused the IOPC of conducting a “political witch hunt against two hard working police officers”

London police had faced public criticism after a video was shared on social media showing a distressed Williams, concerned about being separated from her baby, being handcuffed.