Bianca Williams: Team GB sprinter calls for police commissioner to step down after stop and search

A Team GB sprinter who claims she and her partner were racially profiled when they were stopped and searched has called for the head of the Metropolitan Police to step down.

Commonwealth gold medallist Bianca Williams and her partner Ricardo dos Santos, a Portuguese 400m record holder, were driving through Maida Vale, west London, with their three-month-old son on Saturday when they were stopped by officers.

The British sprinter told Sky News the incident left her "really scared" and made her feel "like we were the scum of their shoe" after footage of the incident was posted on social media.

"It was horrific," she said.

"To them the UK's not racist, but the UK's very racist. It's heartbreaking to know that if it's not us, it's going to somebody else."

Scotland Yard confirmed nothing was found during the search and no arrests were made.

Williams said Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick "does need to think about her position to be honest".

"It's a never-ending cycle and it's not fair," she said.

"What are we doing so wrong that we're getting stopped all the time and we can't even get a simple apology from the commissioner?"

Footage of the incident was posted online by former Olympic gold medallist Linford Christie, which appeared to show the couple being pulled out of a car in a London street.

Williams sounds frustrated as she tells officers "he didn't do anything", but she grows increasingly distressed about her son remaining in the car.

She shouts: "My son is in the car... I don't want you to look after him," as officers tell her to "relax" and "get out of the car".

CCTV images showed the car being followed by a Met Police vehicle shortly before the stop and search.

Speaking after the incident, Williams said: "The fact that I was going to be separated from my son, I couldn't bear that. The mother instinct in me just kicked in and I refused and I wanted to stay with my son.

"I haven't been able to watch the video back properly because it breaks my heart hearing my voice and how upset I was."

She added: "I'm still upset. I'm still heartbroken by the fact they removed me from my three-month-old baby who has no idea what's going on.

"My worry is that if he was a bit older, maybe three or four, he'd be traumatised and he'd be so scared."

Williams said she is "still shaken badly".

In a statement, the Met Police said officers had seen a vehicle with blacked out windows that was driving on the wrong side of the road.

The force said the car was "driving suspiciously", had failed to stop, and then made off at speed.

But this account was rejected by Williams, who said the car was "never" on the wrong side of the road.

A Met Police spokesperson said: "Officers from the Directorate of Professional Standards have reviewed both footage from social media, and the body-worn video of the officers, and are satisfied that there is no concern around the officers' conduct."

In a later statement, the force said officers had been patrolling the area "in response to an increase in violence involving weapons".

Metropolitan Police Commander Helen Harper said she was "really keen to speak personally to the occupants of the vehicle to discuss what happened and the concerns they have".

"We're making efforts today to try to contact them but would also ask them to please get in touch as soon as they can," she added.

"We want to listen to, and speak with, those who raise concerns, to understand more about the issues raised and what more we can do to explain police actions.

"Where we could have interacted in a better way, we need to consider what we should have done differently and take on that learning for the future."

London mayor Sadiq Khan said he takes allegations of racial profiling "extremely seriously" and he has raised the case with the Met Police.

He added: "It is absolutely vital that our police service retains the trust and confidence of the communities it serves so that every Londoner, regardless of background or postcode, can feel safe, protected and served.

"Stop and search must be intelligence-led, carried out fairly and with respect, and all officers now have body-worn video cameras to help hold them to account."

Asked about the incident and claims that the UK is a racist country, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "I don't think that is true. I think that the UK has made incredible progress just in my lifetime.

"But that doesn't mean we've done enough and we've got to keep doing better and we've got to keep addressing people's feelings that they face discrimination and prejudice."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he could see no justification for the use of handcuffs during the incident.

He told LBC: "I don't know what led to the stop in the first place, but what I do know is that if I was a senior officer looking at that video footage, I would feel uncomfortable about the way that it was dealt with."

Black people almost 10 times as likely to be stopped and searched than white people

Black people in England and Wales are almost 10 times as likely to be stopped and searched than white people, according to the latest Home Office data.

The gap has widened steadily since 2015, when it was four times as likely, to 9.7 times as likely in 2019.

Last year, 38 black people were stopped per 1,000 people, compared to just four in every 1,000 white people.

Black people are also more likely to be arrested following a stop and search.

Some 18% of stop and searches resulted in an arrest in the year ending 2018-19, compared to 16% for those conducted on white people.

In 2018-19, black people were more likely to be stopped and searched in every police force area, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The highest rate is in Dorset (62 per 1,000) where the differential is 25 times that of white people.

London's Metropolitan Police, which makes almost half of all stop and searches, has the second highest rate. It stops 51 per 1,000 population, compared to 19 per 1,000 in the rest of England and Wales.

The Met Police also has the second highest rate for white people at 11 per 1,000, behind Merseyside, which stops 13 white people per 1,000 population.