Gross misconduct proven for two Met officers in strip search of Child Q at Hackney School

Update - After announcing the findings, the police disciplinary panel has decided that PC Linge and PC Szmydynski will be dismissed without notice for gross misconduct, and PC Wray will receive a final written warning that remain in place for two years. 

Two Met officers involved in the search involving the exposure of intimate parts of a 15-year-old Black girl at a school in Hackney, east London in 2020, have been found to have committed gross misconduct, following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

At the conclusion of a four-week misconduct hearing, which was presented by the IOPC, a police disciplinary panel found that the decision to perform a strip search of the child – known as Child Q – was disproportionate, inappropriate and unnecessary, which was humiliating for the child and made her feel degraded.

Trainee Detective Constable (T/DC) Kristina Linge and Police Constable (PC) Rafal Szmydynski were found to have breached the police standards of professional behaviour relating to duties and responsibilities, authority, respect and courtesy; orders and instructions, and discreditable conduct.

The panel, chaired by Met Commander Jason Prins, also found that officers failed to ensure that an appropriate adult was present during the search, failed to obtain senior officer authorisation prior to conducting the strip search and failed to provide the child with a copy of the search record, all in breach of training and police policy. The panel found that the officers did not respect her rights as a child and failed to provide her with proper protection.

The panel found the actions of a third officer, PC Victoria Wray, amounted to misconduct for not considering whether the search was disproportionate and for not establishing whether authorisation had been given to carry out the search. She was found to have breached the police standards of professional behaviour relating to duties and responsibilities, authority, respect and courtesy; and orders and instructions.

The panel did not find that any officer breached professional behaviour standards relating to equality and diversity, or honesty and integrity. It did not find, based on the evidence, that race was a factor in their decisions or that the child was adultified.

IOPC Director Amanda Rowe said: “Our sympathies remain with the young woman, who was a child at the time, and her family. It’s important to acknowledge that at the heart of this case was a child, in a vulnerable position, who officers failed to protect and unjustifiably subjected to a strip search. We know this incident has had a significant and long-lasting impact on her wellbeing. This case also led to widespread public concern and we have heard directly from a range of community stakeholders about the impact that this incident has had on trust and confidence in policing.

“Their decision to strip search a 15-year-old at school on suspicion of a small amount of cannabis was completely disproportionate. They failed to follow the policies that exist to ensure that children in these situations have appropriate protective measures in place.”

As a result of this investigation, and others we carried out around the same time involving police strip searches of children, we issued a number of nationwide learning recommendations including a review of stop and search authorised professional practice, which is currently being carried out by the College of Policing. This followed previous recommendations we made to the Met, which it accepted, concerning strip searches of children in 2022.

We also made recommendations to the Home Office to amend strip search laws to improve child safeguarding measures, including introducing a mandatory safeguarding referral for any child subject to a search exposing intimate parts.  

Amanda Rowe said: “We have been continuing to liaise with the Home Office and have given our views on proposed amendments to strengthen legislation. We are pleased that this is being progressed and look forward to the law being changed so that children are better safeguarded and protected.”

Timeline of this case:

3 December 2020 – Strip search of Child Q by Met officers at a school in Hackney.

January 2021 – Complaint submitted by Child Q’s mother to the Met on 8 January. As a result of this, the Met begins an investigation into the complaint.

March 2021 – Further complaint made by Chair of Governors for the school on 8 March. Later that month, solicitors acting on behalf of Child Q write to IOPC setting out the complaints and requesting that the complaints are referred to the IOPC for investigation.

May 2021 – Complaints to the Met made on behalf of Child Q and the school are referred to the IOPC on 6 and 14 May. The IOPC begins an independent investigation into the complaints.

July 2023 – Investigation completed and provisional decisions on whether officers have a disciplinary case to answer sent to the force along with our final report, as required by law, for its views.

September 2023 – IOPC confirms that three officers have a case to answer decision for gross misconduct and a fourth officer has a case to answer for misconduct.

November 2023 - Following the conclusion of our investigation, we were provided with evidence by a third party that we were not previously aware of that was of significance to the investigation. After reviewing this evidence and consulting with the relevant parties we decided this new information did not impact our decisions on disciplinary proceedings.

The same month we liaised with the Met before deciding to use our powers to present the case to the disciplinary panel as we believed it would be in the public interest to do so. Our presenting unit then undertook substantial case preparation work which involved preparing detailed misconduct allegations and bundles of evidential material – the volume of which was more than 4,500 pages.

August 2024 – Gross misconduct papers served on the three officers.

October 2024 – At a pre-hearing meeting, the panel chair confirms that the misconduct hearing will take place in June 2025, which is the earliest available dates for the panel chair, parties’ representatives and the venue.

June 2025 – Gross misconduct meeting takes place for three Met officers. A misconduct meeting for a fourth officer is yet to be held by the force.