Woman handed criminal conviction despite ‘unlawful’ strip search by police in Greater Manchester

Published

2 months ago

July 18, 2025

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Maria’s treatment by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) was so shocking the chief constable described it as “undefendable” and yet a year after a high-profile inquiry found she had been “unlawfully” arrested and strip-searched, Maria now has a criminal conviction for the crime the inquiry said she should never have been arrested for.

Warning: This story includes graphic descriptions of strip searches and references to domestic violence.

The Baird Inquiry – named after its lead Dame Vera Baird – into GMP, published a year ago, found that the force made numerous unlawful arrests and unlawful strip searches on vulnerable women. A year on, the review has led to major changes in police processes.

Strip searches for welfare purposes, where the person is deemed at risk of harming themselves, are banned, and the mayor’s office told Sky News only one woman was intimately strip-searched to look for a concealed item by GMP last year.

Women had previously told Sky News the practice was being used by police “as a power trip” or “for the police to get their kicks”.

However, several women who gave evidence to the Baird Inquiry have told Sky News they feel let down and are still fighting for accountability and to get their complaints through the bureaucracy of a painfully slow system.

The case of Maria (not her real name) perhaps best illustrates how despite an inquiry pointing out her “terrible treatment”, she continues to face the consequences of what the police did.

‘Treated like a piece of meat’

The story begins with an act of poor service. A victim of domestic violence, Maria went to the police to get keys off her arrested partner but was made to wait outside for five-and-a-half hours.

The Baird Inquiry said: “This domestic abuse victim, alone in a strange city, made 14 calls for police to help her.

“She was repeatedly told that someone would contact her, but nobody did. The pattern didn’t change, hour after hour, until eventually she rang, sobbing and angry.”

The police then arrested her for malicious communications, saying she’d sworn at staff on the phone.

Inside the police station, officers strip-searched her because they thought she was concealing a vape. Maria told Sky News she was “treated like a piece of meat”.

The Baird Inquiry says of the demeaning humiliation: “Maria describes being told to take all her clothes off and, when completely naked, to open the lips of her vagina so the police could see inside and to bend over and open her anal area similarly.”

After the inquiry found all this not only “terrible” but “unlawful”, Chief Constable Stephen Watson described the actions of his officers towards Maria as “an inexplicable and undefendable exercise of police power”.

He added: “We’ve done the wrong thing, in the wrong way and we’ve created harm where harm already existed.”

Despite all of this, the charges of malicious communication were not dropped. They hung over Maria since her arrest in May 2023. Then in March this year, magistrates convicted her of the offence, and she was fined.

Dame Vera’s report describes the arrest for malicious communications as “pointless”, “unlawful”, “not in the public interest” and questions whether the officer had taken “a dislike to Maria”. Yet, while Maria gained a criminal record, no officer has been disciplined over her treatment.

A GMP spokesperson said: “The court has tested the evidence for the matter that Maria was arrested for, and we note the outcome by the magistrate. We have a separate investigation into complaints made about the defendant’s arrest and her treatment whilst in police custody.”

The complaint was referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) in August 2023 and Maria was told several months ago the report was completed, but she has not heard anything since.

‘There’s been no accountability’

Dame Vera’s report also catalogues the “unlawful” arrest and strip search of Dannika Stewart in October 2023 at the same police station. Dannika is still grinding through the police complaints service to get a formal acknowledgement of their failings.

She told Sky News: “Everyone involved in it is still in the same position. There’s been no accountability from the police. We’re still fighting the complaint system, we’re still trying to prove something which has already been proved by an independent inquiry.”

Asked if anyone had been disciplined, Chief Constable Watson told Sky News: “There are ongoing investigations into individual failings, but for the most part the Baird review talked about systemic failings of leadership, it talked of failings in policy and failings of systems.

“In some cases, those people who may have misconducted themselves at the level of professional standards have retired. There are no criminal proceedings in respect of any individual.”

He added: “Every single element of the Baird inquiry has been taken on board – every single one of those recommendations has been implemented – we believe ourselves to be at the forefront of practice.”

‘It’s been three years’

Mark Dove who was also found by the inquiry to have been unlawfully arrested three times and twice unlawfully stripped-searched says he’s been in the complaints system for three years now.

He told Sky News: “There have been improvements in that I’m being informed more, but ultimately there’s no timeline. It’s been three years, and I have to keep pushing them. And I’ve not heard of anyone being suspended.”

Sophie (not her real name), a domestic violence victim who was also found by the review team to have been unlawfully arrested by GMP, told Sky News that although most of her complaints were eventually upheld they had originally been dismissed and no officer has faced any consequences.

She said: “They put on record that I’d accepted a caution when I hadn’t – and then tried to prosecute me. Why has no one been disciplined? These are people’s lives. I could have lost my job. Where is the accountability?”

Since the Baird Inquiry, every strip search by GMP is now reviewed by a compliance team. GMP also provides all female suspects in custody with dignity packs including sanitary products, and they work with the College of Policing to ensure all officers are trained to recognise and respond to the effects of domestic and sexual trauma on survivors.

The deputy mayor for Greater Manchester for policing and crime, Kate Green, says the lessons of the Baird Inquiry should reach all police forces.

She said: “I would strongly recommend that other forces, if they don’t already follow GMP’s practise in not conducting so-called welfare strip searches, similarly cease to carry out those searches. It’s very difficult to see how a traumatising search can be good for anybody’s welfare, either the officers or the detainees. We’ve managed to do that now for well over a year.”

Ms Green also suggests a national review of the police complaints system.

Deputy Chief Constable Terry Woods, of GMP, said: “Our reformed Professional Standards Directorate (PSD) has increased the quality of complaints handling and improved timeliness.

“Where officers have been found to breach our standards then we have not hesitated to remove them from GMP, with more than 100 officers being dismissed on the chief constable’s watch.

“Out of 14 complaints relating to Dame Vera’s report, four have been completed. Our PSD continues to review and investigate the other complaints.

“We’re committed to being held to account for our use of arrests and our performance in custody.

“By its nature, custody has – and always will be – a challenging environment.

“However, basic provisions and processes must always be met and, while we’re confident our progress is being recognised across policing, we stand ready to act on feedback.”

UK

Labour deputy leadership: Contest to replace Rayner set to become two-horse race

Published

8 hours ago

September 11, 2025

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Labour deputy leadership: Contest to replace Rayner set to become two-horse race

Labour’s deputy leadership contest is on the brink of becoming a two-horse race between Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell, as the other three candidates scramble for nominations.

The official tally from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) on Wednesday night put Ms Phillipson, the education secretary, ahead with 116 nominations.

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Ms Powell, the former Commons leader who was ousted in Sir Keir Starmer’s reshuffle last week, is behind with 77 – just three shy of the 80 needed to make it to the next round.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Paula Barker and Dame Emily Thornberry all had support from 15 or fewer MPs as of Wednesday evening, fuelling speculation they could follow in the footsteps of housing minister Alison McGovern and pull out.

Ms Barker, the MP for Liverpool Wavetree, told Sky News she was “genuinely undecided” and had a lot to consider.

Ms Barker, a former trade union official, has challenged the government on Gaza and welfare cuts and is part of the newly formed soft-left “Mainstream group”.

Her allies are keen for her to stay in the race, with one telling Sky News she “outshone the others by miles” during an online hustings event for MPs, and would be a “real alternative for the membership”.

Her supporters are expected to throw their weight behind Ms Powell if she does drop out, with one saying of the Manchester Central MP: “She is closer to Andy Burnham, and she was just sacked, so those who dislike Morgan McSweeney [the prime minister’s chief of staff] I guess will get behind her.”

However, while describing her as “slightly more left” than Ms Phillipson, they said she is “hardly a socialist”.

Some MPs want to avoid a race between Ms Powell and Ms Phillipson, believing there is not much difference in what they offer, but others had more praise for the former, calling her performance at the hustings impressive.

One MP said: “Her pitch is that she’s been the shop steward of the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) in government, but now she’s not in government she can dedicate herself to the role of deputy leader full time without a department to run. She wants to focus on defining our voter coalition and making sure we’re speaking to them.”

They added that Ms Phillipson might be too busy to fulfil the deputy leadership role, especially with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) reform coming down the track “which could be a horror show”.

Ms Phillipson has been making the case to MPs about her experience fighting populism in her Houghton & Sunderland South seat in the North East, where Reform UK is on the rise.

Dr Jeevun Sandher said he was won over by the education secretary following her pitch at the hustings in which she also spoke about the cost of living crisis.

The MP for Loughborough told Sky News: “Bridget was strong, articulate, and very impressive. She was able to communicate the deep thought we need to govern well and win the next election.”

The deputy leadership race was triggered by the resignation of former deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner after she admitted underpaying stamp duty on a flat.

The candidates need 80 backers by 5pm Thursday. As of Wednesday evening’s tally, 235 MPs had made their nominations out of Labour’s 398 MPs.

Ms McGovern pulled out on Wednesday afternoon, saying it was “clear that the momentum of this contest had shifted, and I am not going to progress to the next stage”.

The MP for Birkenhead was rumoured to be Number 10’s preference before it was clear Ms Phillipson – who she has since nominated – would enter the race.

Timeline for the race

Many Labour MPs are keen to see someone who would work constructively with the prime minister to avoid the party becoming more divided.

There are also calls for the deputy leader to be from the north to balance out the number of cabinet ministers who represent London seats – which both Dame Emily and Ms Riberio-Addy do.

If more than one candidate secures 80 nominations by Thursday evening, they will then need to gain backing from either three of Labour’s affiliate organisations, including two trade unions, or 5% of constituency parties.

That process will continue until 27 September, meaning a contested election threatens to overshadow the party’s annual conference that begins in Liverpool the next day.

The successful candidates will then appear on the ballot for a vote of all party members and affiliated party supporters, which will open on 8 October and close on 23 October at 12pm.

The winner will be announced on Saturday 25 October.