“They were like savages,” says Sinead Foley, 37, who was strip searched by police in Birmingham in November final 12 months.
She is amongst a number of viewers who’ve contacted Sky News with allegations of abuse in custody by totally different police forces, following our investigation into Greater Manchester Police.
Sinead was arrested and later launched with out cost however left with traumatic recollections of her time in custody.
Using a topic entry request, she has obtained a number of the CCTV of her time within the cell, which exhibits her being undressed on the ground by feminine officers.
“It just felt like they could violate me, and they’re allowed to do it,” she stated.
“You can see I’m compliant, so there’s no need to be dragging people’s clothes off forcibly. It’s totally inhumane.”
Sky News has not seen all of the footage and Sinead acknowledges she indicated suicidal ideas – however says she was then stripped once more and left bare for 16 hours with out anti-rip clothes.
At one level male officers are clearly within the cell together with her when she is bare – the door is shut, and he or she is left alone with only a mattress on the ground which she says she later pulled over herself.
“They only left the blue mat in the room, that’s the only thing. So, to try and cover my modesty… I just felt totally violated.”
West Midlands police advised Sky News that no offences had been dedicated by officers.
The pressure added: “Officers and staff became increasingly concerned for her welfare and took a number of steps to ensure her safety while she was in custody.
“It turned crucial to rearrange medical consideration and to take away her clothes on account of considerations for her security and psychological well being.
“She was given blankets and water, but custody staff were unable to provide her with food and replacement clothing initially due to her aggressive behaviour and risk to cause herself harm.”
Earlier this week Sky News revealed allegations of humiliating and pointless strip searches performed by Greater Manchester Police, with one girl claiming she had been raped in custody. The metropolis’s mayor, Andy Burnham, has stated he’ll launch an unbiased investigation.
He advised Sky News: “People watching this programme will rightly want to know that they will be fully, properly and independently investigated. And I can give people that assurance today.
“And that is vital for 2 causes. Obviously, for the people involved, they’ll need to be assured that each single level that they’ve raised shall be correctly investigated. But, secondly, it is vital with regard to ladies’s competence in policing and underneath, in fact, policing in Greater Manchester.”
The former Victims Commissioner Vera Baird said one concern is women being punished for complaining about the police.
She said: “We are all very properly conscious that there are sometimes sceptical approaches to ladies, that generally ladies really feel that they’re those on trial and the notion that due to this fact you might need to press a bit of arduous to get the police to take some discover of you instantly opens up this new vista that you could be your self then at its very early stage, change into arrested and handled badly since you are behaving in a nuisance approach, because it had been, to the police.”
After seeing photographs of Zayna Iman being stripped in custody, various Sky News viewers received in contact with their very own allegations of abuse by different police forces, with a number of saying their complaints had been ignored.
Quotes from emails embrace: “I was a victim of a crime and detained naked in a cell overnight in the freezing cold.”
Another reads: “The CCTV of me pinned naked on my back in a cell by four/five officers then pepper sprayed is ‘not available’.”
Another stated: “I struggle with the memories of what happened to me. The officer who assaulted me was sadistic, he got off on having that power over me.”
Maggie Oliver, whose basis has helped present help to a number of the ladies we’ve spoken to, stated: “This for me is an abuse of power. It’s power in the wrong hands, which means that they believe that they are unaccountable.
“And that’s not what a police pressure or a police service is. They are public servants. And they need to be responding when there are allegations of this nature.”
Greater Manchester police said it had found no evidence of officer misconduct in the cases raised, but has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
Deputy Chief Constable Terry Woods said: “I need to make it completely clear that we perceive and share the considerations of the general public concerning allegations towards Greater Manchester Police… Miss Iman’s allegations concerning her therapy in custody, in February 2021, are topic to an ongoing investigation.
“The force made a referral to the IOPC which instructed a GMP-led investigation.
“Having reviewed the content material of the tv report which highlights further considerations, I’ve taken the choice to make one other referral to the IOPC to be able to guarantee Miss Iman and the general public that every one of her allegations shall be rigorously and independently reviewed.”
Source: information.sky.com”