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One of Britain's biggest police forces was today accused of 'a very serious abuse of power' after a damning report into how custody officers carry out 'degrading' strip-searches of vulnerable women.
Former Victims Commissioner Dame Vera Baird was asked to investigate after a string of women told how they had been subjected to humiliating treatment following their arrest by Greater Manchester Police (GMP).
Her report into the scandal – published today – reveals how one domestic abuse victim was unlawfully arrested for malicious communication after angrily accusing the force of 'failing people on a monumental scale'.
The woman – referred to as Maria - was then stripped naked and 'treated like a piece of meat', she told Dame Vera.
'The only reason they did what they did was to degrade me,' 'Maria' added.
Another disturbing account involved a woman who complained that the force wasn't taking action against a man she suspected of grooming a child for sex.
Mother Dannika Stewart (pictured) reported that she was forced to strip naked in a cell by officers from Greater Manchester Police and was told under threat to drop complaints about the force
Police body cam footage from the day that Ms Stewart was arrested at Pendleton police station in Greater Manchester
Dame Vera raised concerns that GMP turned Dannika (pictured) 'from a victim into a suspect'
She was arrested herself and claims she was told to 'strip or be stripped' at the custody suite, with an officer 'staring at her breasts' after she removed her clothes, with no blanket provided to protect her modesty.
A third was just 14 and an alleged grooming victim when two female officers told her to strip down to her underwear and lift up her bra because she had concealed an e-cigarette from police on a previous occasion.
In today's hard-hitting report, Dame Vera questions whether a requirement that officers 'increase arrests' has led to 'an over-readiness' to detain suspects, sometimes on the flimsiest of grounds.
She recommends that GMP stops strip-searches on the grounds of a risk of self-harm or for a detainee's welfare within six months.
The barrister and former Labour minister also calls on the Home Office and police chiefs nationally to investigate using airport-style screening 'to eradicate degrading strip-searching from police practice as much as possible'.
In addition, all custody suites should have women-only sections, with every woman detainee allocated a female welfare officer, and sanitary products readily available, Dame Vera says.
Greater Manchester Police's Chief Constable Stephen Watson, who has been hailed for the success of his 'back to basics' approach in bringing the force out of special measures, responded by saying he was 'sorry'.
One of the complainants Zayna Iman, 38, released CCTV footage of herself in a Greater Manchester Police cell
Video footage obtained by the woman, Zayna Iman, 38, shows her in the custody cell
CCTV footage shows three female officers taking off Ms Iman's clothes, leaving her topless in a cell, face-down on a mattress
Pledging to implement the findings in full, he accepted that the report had uncovered examples of 'poor behaviour, insensitivity, and a lack of care in the face of vulnerability'.
But whistleblower Maggie Oliver, who resigned a detective over failings in how GMP handled child sexual grooming cases, branded the Baird report 'another damning indictment of one of the country's largest police forces'.
'Dame Vera Baird's explosive report reveals a shocking disregard for rights of those coming into contact with the criminal justice system,' she said.
Highlighting how half the 15 former detainees who spoke to Dame Vera should never have been arrested in the first place, Mrs Oliver said: 'Many of those arrested were vulnerable women and we say that this constitutes a very serious abuse of power.'
The report was commissioned last year by Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and his deputy, Kate Green, after four women told Sky News they had been subjected to unjustified strip searches after being arrested.
Among them was Zayna Iman, 38, who waived her anonymity to allege that she was stripped, drugged and sexually assaulted while being held in custody for almost two days - although according to the report, she later 'withdrew her engagement' with Dame Vera's investigation.
Ms Iman alleged she was stripped, drugged and sexually assaulted while being held in custody for almost two days
As recently as last Sunday, a civilian police custody detention officer based at Bolton police station in Greater Manchester was arrested on suspicion of sexual touching, misconduct in public office and cyber-flashing.
Today's report features harrowing accounts from 11 women and three men, some of whom originally contacted police as witnesses of crime.
In other cases they alleged they had been victim of sexual assault, only to find themselves the ones to be arrested.
In all but one of the 14 cases, police ultimately took no action. Seven out of the arrests examined for her report were unlawful, Dame Vera concluded.
She questions whether Mr Watson making it a 'strategic priority to increase arrests' after taking over as chief constable had led to 'an over-readiness to arrest'.
'Some of the arrests in this inquiry seem to emerge from a reversal of reality, when a victim or someone trying to protect or support a victim is arrested for the smallest misdemeanour, while there is little investigation into the suspected serious offender,' she wrote.
As well as speaking to former detainees, Dame Vera was given access to custody records, CCTV and body-worn camera footage.
However she did not interview officers involved in their arrests, saying it was a matter for the chief constable to refer them to the Independent Office for Police Conduct if there was grounds for disciplinary action.
In her recommendations, Dame Vera called for a thorough overhaul of how the force treats women suspects and its policy on performing strip-searches.
'Greater Manchester Police should move to put an end to strip searching done for 'welfare reasons' and should more firmly regulate, and clearly report, strip searching carried out for any reason,' she concluded.
In response, the force said it had already implemented several changes, including female welfare officers for female detainees, sealed packs of sanitary products in custody suites, and greater 'transparency' over strip-searches.
Mr Watson said: 'To those given a voice by this inquiry who have not received the care and consideration they are entitled to: I am sorry.
'The issues raised in Dame Vera's report speaks to a period when our a custody system under pressure not performing to an acceptable standard.
'It evidences poor systems, structures, and incivility, insensitivity and compounded by a lack of routine leadership, scrutiny, and individual examples of low standards, poor behaviour, insensitivity, and a lack of care in the face of vulnerability.
'These issues are of the utmost importance and highlight the need to maintain the highest professional standards.
'These must reflect our duty, and moral obligation, to respect and uphold the dignity of all detainees but with a particular focus on women and girls.
'We accept the recommendations in this report.
'We commit to implementing them fully and faithfully with a view to making lasting improvements.'
But Mrs Oliver, who now runs her own foundation to help adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, said the report exposed 'a shocking disregard for rights of those coming into contact with the criminal justice system'.
In her recommendations, Dame Vera called for a thorough overhaul of how the force treats women suspects and its policy on performing strip-searches. Pictured: Greater Manchester Police
She said it would be 'easy to dismiss her findings as relating to only those who break the law and end up in police custody' – but highlighted that the report had concluded half of those whose arrests were examined should never have been detained in the first place.
Their treatment – in many cases after previously reporting being victims of sexual violence – 'portrays a very disturbing picture of the police officers in whom we, the public, place our trust', she added.
In a statement responding to the inquiry, Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said the organisation has 'long called for transformation in the culture of policing along with accountability, transparency and leadership to root out misogyny, racism and other forms of discrimination wherever they are found.'
She said that the latest inquiry follows other reports investigating systemic issues within policing - most recently Baroness Casey's review into the Met Police.
Ms Simon continued: 'Public trust and confidence in policing has sharply declined in recent years, following high profile revelations about police-perpetrated violence against women and girls.
'Dame Vera Baird's report not only illustrates how this is an issue that stretches far beyond London's Met Police, but it also shows how perpetrators of abuse are often able to weaponise the criminal justice system and pursue prosecution against victims as part of a pattern of coercive control.
'Critical issues flagged by this inquiry include police call handlers failing in their duty of care to victims of domestic abuse, a routine practice of arresting victims without regard for the broader context of abuse, an overwhelmingly weak police response to domestic abuse, poor understanding of and over-response to minor misconduct by victims, a readiness to criminalise traumatised women expressing frustration with the police response, and police officers escalating situations rather than protecting the public peace.
'In addition, it highlights a systemic issue around provision of sanitary protection in custody as well as detainees' rights to medical care.'
EVAW called on the Mayor of Greater Manchester to implement the recommendations in a timely manner and they also urged the Home Office to commission an inquiry into the use of strip search in other forces.
Ms Simon added: 'All police forces must be accountable to the public they serve. Due to their position of power and authority, there can be no justification for missing custody notes, gaps in video footage or any failure to be open and transparent about what happens to those in custody.
'We welcome the inquiry's recommendation for greater scrutiny, which must include victim advocates.
It is particularly critical that forces have a better understanding of the dynamics of domestic abuse and other forms of male violence, so that victims aren't arrested and criminalised. This is essential to maintaining trust in the police and ensuring perpetrators are brought to justice.'
Harrowing testimony from ex-detainees
Sophie
A teacher, 'Sophie' – not her real name – reported her violent partner for trying to strangle her in July 2022.
But two months later she was arrested at 3am with police 'hammering on her front door'.
She was arrested for criminal damage to the wing mirror of her ex's vehicle and for bruising his arms on the day he tried to strangle her.
Sophie was locked in a cell where she began bleeding through her clothing due to a medical condition for which she was awaiting a hysterectomy.
But only after pressing the cell buzzer for 30-40 minutes did a male officer appear, eventually returning with a sanitary towel.
After being released, she says the constable who had arrested her 'hammered on her door' again a week later, saying she had to accept a caution.
However she refused to sign, with the Crown Prosecution Service – which at that stage had taken no action against her violent ex – later dropping the case.
She told Dame Vera her ordeal at the hands of Greater Manchester Police had 'ruined her life'.
'Sophie describes herself as an emotional wreck, perpetually frightened that she will be taken in the middle of the night and go to jail, or that she will be locked, bleeding, in a cell, for another 16 hours,' the report says.
Dame Vera concluded that Sophie's arrest was unlawful, saying she should instead have been invited for interview.
She added that it was 'an extremely misguided way for police officers to treat a known victim of potentially near-fatal domestic abuse'.
Maria
Maria and her husband had booked a hotel in Manchester in May last year for an event, but he was due to drive her home as she had bail conditions to stay there overnight.
But she claims her husband – who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from serving in the Armed Forces – began drinking and then 'throttled her so hard that she passed out'.
Police were alerted by her screams, and she directed officers to their car where her husband was located and arrested.
Unable to go home as he had their money, the following morning she called police 14 times asking for help getting access to him.
She became increasingly frustrated at having to explain her predicament from scratch each time, eventually complaining: 'The police are the only people in this f****** country, to speak to and yet they are failing people on a monumental scale.'
She also said: 'I am f****** sick of the fucking police they're s***, s***, s***.'
Eventually after she said she would drown herself if it weren't for her children, two constables took her to the station where he was being held.
After telling them she had been subjected to hundreds of sexual offences, she attempted to leave, only to be arrested for breach of bail.
Body-worn camera footage shows how she 'cowered' as the officer 'gripped her arm'.
After being handcuffed, she asked: 'Why are you arresting me when I've come to ask for help?'
Maria – not her real name – was then rearrested on suspicion of malicious communication for being 'abusive' during her earlier calls to police.
In custody she was strip-searched, 'ostensibly' due to a vape which had dropped out of her trousers.
She was told to take all her clothes off and subjected to intimate searches.
'The only reason they did what they did was to degrade me,' she told the report author.
'If I was a man, I don't think they would've done it.
'I was treated like a piece of meat.'
Finally in the early hours of the next morning she was released, still with no money to get home.
According to Dame Vera, her arrest was 'pointless', 'unpleasant' and 'unprofessional', and her treatment suggests the officer may have 'taken a dislike' to her.
She concludes that her arrest was 'unlawful' and says Greater Manchester Police 'failed utterly' in their duty of care to her.
Dannika Stewart
One of two ex-detainees to waive their right to anonymity and speak to Dame Vera, Ms Stewart contacted Greater Manchester Police in 2022 to report that a man had been grooming girls for sex.
She passed on allegations that the suspect had a 'photo trophy wall' of drugged girls that he had abused.
However while officers took statements, the alleged abuser was only arrested after Ms Stewart complained to a charity worker, by which time the 'trophy wall' had vanished.
She later secretly recorded a meeting with the police officer who'd had the suspect arrested and who described him as 'really dangerous'.
Then in October 2022 six police officers turned up at her house when she was at work but while her 'terrified' young child was on their way to school.
They said the alleged abuser had claimed someone had offered to drop the accusation in return for £200 and needed to examine her phone.
After being alerted, a furious Ms Stewart offered to take the handset to her local police station, saying: 'Why the f*** have you come to my house? I am coming now. Be ready!
'The police are s*** and out of order, and I hope you die.'
Instead, the officer refused to meet her for three days, whereupon she was finally arrested on suspicion of blackmail and malicious communication.
A video of her arrest uncovered by the review shows the officer tell her: 'Now Dannika, we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way.'
Because she had attempted to put the phone down her trousers, at the custody suite she was told to 'strip or be stripped'.
'She was not given a blanket for modesty, and says one officer was staring at her breasts,' says the report.
Greater Manchester Police deny she was strip-searched and say she was made to change her trousers as hers had a cord.
After being released, Ms Stewart remained on bail for a year.
But according to the report, Dame Vera was shown no evidence to suggest she was the blackmailer.
'I am very concerned about how, based on almost nothing, GMP turned Dannika from a victim into a suspect, with all that followed,' she added.
Scarlett
As a young teenager, Scarlett – one of the detainees to speak to Sky News – alleged to police that she had been raped by an adult, but felt officers didn't believe her.
In August 2019 when she was 14 she was arrested after a car she was in was robbed.
At the custody suite she was told to take her clothes off because she had previously hidden an e-cigarette from police, the report says.
'She was not provided with an appropriate adult, and was wrongly told that if she objected, she would face a criminal charge,' it says.
'Two women police officers told her to take her clothes off.
'She kept her bra and pants on but had to lift the bra so that any e-cigarette would fall out.'
Nothing was found but she was held for 24 hours.
While there is no note of a strip search on her custody record, Dame Vera said she had 'no doubt' that Scarlett was telling the truth.
She was arrested on a separate matter three years later while on her period, according to the report, on which occasion an officer threw a tampon at her head and called her a 'tramp' and a 'dirty bitch'.
However despite her troubled start in life she has no criminal convictions, it says.
Dame Vera highlights a contrasting failure to gather evidence to prosecute the man she accused of sexually abusing her.
'That would surely have been more fruitful police work than repeatedly arresting her,' she said.
'In common with other participants in this inquiry, Scarlett and her family feel that they somehow became on the wrong side of the police.'
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