Crowdfunding for sacked police officers ‘quite shocking’, Bianca Williams says
Jonathan Clapham and Sam Franks were sacked over the stop and search of two athletes who said they were racially profiled.
British sprinter Bianca Williams has said it is “quite shocking” that more than £100,000 has been raised for the two ex-Metropolitan Police officers who were sacked for gross misconduct.
The money was raised through a JustGiving crowdfunding page, which aims to help ex-constables Jonathan Clapham and Sam Franks at “a time of great austerity” after they were sacked over the stop and search of Ms Williams, 29, and her partner, the Portuguese sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos, 28, in 2020.
The couple are black and claimed they were racially profiled.
Ms Williams said she has “no regrets” over taking the case to a police misconduct tribunal which has unleashed a “crazy” amount of trolling since Wednesday’s disciplinary ruling along with £133,846 in donations for the sacked officers pledged by 7,849 supporters by Monday afternoon.
Ms Williams told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour: “I feel like everyone has a right to do a crowdfund but in the circumstances it is quite shocking, really and truly.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) brought the case against five officers and said that the stopping of Mr Dos Santos and Ms Williams was “because they were black” and was “excessive, unreasonable and unjustified”.
Ms Williams told the programme: “I have seen some of the comments that they shouldn’t have lost their jobs but they lied.
“The officers lied at the end of the day and there has to be a punishment towards that.
“We can’t accept that in the police force, that shouldn’t be allowed and so therefore, they lost their jobs for that.
“I am still shocked by it, just the whole crowdfunding situation.”
The police followed the athletes as they drove to their west London home from training with their baby son, then three months old, in the back seat of their Mercedes.
They were accused of racially profiling the couple alongside fellow Met officers Acting Police Sergeant Rachel Simpson, Pc Allan Casey and Pc Michael Bond, who were found not to have breached any standards.
The misconduct panel heard they followed Mr Dos Santos in their police carrier because of the “appalling” and “suspicious” nature of his driving and were doing their duty when they conducted the stop and search.
The couple were handcuffed and searched on suspicion of having drugs and weapons after they were pulled over outside their property, but nothing was found.
During his evidence, Mr Dos Santos accused the officers of detaining him for “DWB, driving while black”.
The hearing was told Mr Dos Santos was stopped nine times within four weeks of buying a car in 2018.
Ms Williams cried as she watched footage of Mr Dos Santos getting pulled from the driver’s seat to the roadside and handcuffed.
Ms Williams said she had endured some negative backlash since last week’s ruling, telling the programme: “I am glad that people can see that they were lying but it’s one where we have got so much hate from the officers now losing their jobs and we are getting blamed for them losing their jobs when they lied and were being dishonest.
“I have had so many comments saying it wasn’t a racist situation.
“Why did they lose their jobs because it wasn’t a racist attack?
“The trolling has been crazy.
“We were trolled in 2020 – now it’s like 10 times worse.”
Earlier this year, Ms Williams won bronze in the 4x100m at the World Athletics Championships.
Ms Williams said she has no regrets about pursuing the case because, as part of a couple with a public profile, “I feel like we have a voice and we are going to use it”.
Other people who fear they have been wrongfully stopped and treated by the police may not have the power to speak up, enough support behind them or the financial backing to get a lawyer and take it further, she stated.
She said: “We are doing to this to help the next person and the people behind us because it is going to happen again, sadly.”
After last week’s ruling, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Ward said the couple “deserved better and I apologise to them for the distress they have suffered”.
He said: “Honesty and integrity are at the core of policing and, as the panel has concluded, there can be no place in the Met for officers who do not uphold these values.”
He added that the panel’s findings highlight they “still have a long way to go to earn the trust of our communities, particularly our black communities when it comes to our use of stop and search”.
