A Rastafarian woman who sat naked in a police cell for three hours has been given £45,000 damages after she successfully sued a police force for wrongful arrest.
Yvonne Farrell told BBC Newsnight she was humiliated following her arrest by Hertfordshire police. The force has admitted it “didn’t get everything right on this occasion”.
The compensation award comes after an official report revealed shocking details of Metropolitan police officers sharing messages about hitting and raping women, as well as the deaths of black babies and the Holocaust.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct said the hateful and offensive remarks were part of a Met culture that needed to be rooted out.
Last week, it emerged the Met had apologised and paid compensation to an academic for “sexist, derogatory and unacceptable language” used by officers about her when she was strip-searched.
Farrell was arrested after she sat on her partner’s car in Stevenage when a tow truck arrived to take it away in August 2018, the BBC reported.
She refused to give her name at the police station and was taken to a cell, where she was asked to remove her clothing and was provided with a replacement “crop top and hot pants”.
“I’m a 50-plus-year-old woman and a Rastafarian. Where are they going, giving me those items of clothing? I called them back and I said: ‘Listen, this is not suitable clothing. I need something long to cover,’” she told the BBC in an interview from her new home in the Caribbean.
Farrell said officers said they were taking her clothes because she would not tell them who she was.
“[They said] ‘We don’t know anything about you, so you can harm yourself. So with that, we’re going to take your clothes.’ That was the excuse that they gave. It’s not good enough.”
Farrell said the officers should have respected her religion, which states that Rasta women should dress modestly, and given her appropriate clothing.
Hertfordshire police’s professional standards department initially rejected Farrell’s complaint. She then enlisted the help of solicitor Iain Gould, who specialises in claims against the police.
The force apologised for the way Farrell was treated and agreed to pay her £45,000 damages. But it did not address her claim that she had been forced to take her clothes off.
In a letter, Michelle Dunn, the deputy chief constable of Hertfordshire police, said: “I accept that you should not have been arrested. I am extremely sorry for any injuries that you suffered as a result of the actions of Hertfordshire police. On this occasion we got it wrong. I apologise unreservedly.”
Hertfordshire police told the BBC in a statement: “The fair treatment of people detained in custody in Hertfordshire is very important. Following a review of the circumstances we accepted that, regrettably, we didn’t get everything right on this occasion four years ago. We were in regular contact with the complainant’s legal team throughout and the force agreed to settle the matter in recognition of the distress caused. The matter was settled amicably.”
