Last month a London police officer cleared of racially assaulting two teenagers was identified as one of six officers involved in a “serious, gratuitous and prolonged” assault on a Muslim man – for which the Metropolitan police paid £60,000 in damages.
Mark Jones, 42, cleared of the racial assault, was a member of the territorial support group (TSG) unit that arrested terror suspect Babar Ahmad at his home in south-west London in December 2003. Ahmad was punched, kicked, stamped on and strangled during his arrest. A High Court judge later ordered the damages payment for “gross brutality”.
The Met admits that the six officers involved in the arrest have been the subjects of at least 77 complaints involving black or Asian men since 1992. Despite a finding by the independent police complaints commission that there was a case to answer for excessive force against Ahmad, the crown prosecution service declined to prosecute and the Met’s internal disciplinary tribunal ruled that there was no case to answer.
Babar Ahmad’s family said: “This is reflective of a culture that exists in the UK whereby police officers are able to behave as brutally as they wish with full knowledge that they will not be held to account by the authorities.”
Black police officer Amechi Onwungbonu supported the allegations of racial assault made by the teenagers, and said Mark Jones had later told him the treatment was justified because the TSG were “vigilantes”.
Jones was given glowing testimonials – including by inspector Paul Davis, one of the six officers in the Ahmad arrest, and supervisor in the van where the assault against the teenagers took place, two facts not revealed to the jury.
Topics: Police