Black lawyer: I was held at gunpoint by racist officers in UK
A BLACK barrister claimed he was unlawfully arrested and held at gunpoint for 30 minutes because of racist police attitudes.
Leon Lynch, 31, said he was terrified and humiliated when armed detectives kept him handcuffed in the rain as he went to celebrate Valentine’s Day with his then fiancee Katie.
The highly rated counsel at one of London’s leading chambers is a married father-of-two and law-abiding Christian. But Essex officers pounced after wrongly believing he had a gun in 2014, then found he had a hammer to put his wife’s Valentine’s gift – a plaque – on the wall.
Mr Lynch, 31, also claims he has been stopped and searched seven times by Metropolitan Police because of his colour.
He hit out after this week’s outrage over George Floyd’s death sparked a debate on whether Britain is less racist.
He said: “I am convinced this is about racism and the assumptions people make because of your colour. So many people in the UK see this as an American thing. But there are different grades of racism. The darkest is when you have someone like Derek Chauvin sticking his knee in your neck. This is a lighter, more subtle shade.”
Mr Lynch’s wife Katie said: “People often assume that he is the defendant purely because he is a young black man. And this mistake is even made by counsel. He has had to defend clients who are charged with racial aggravated assault offences and does so with grace, humility and integrity.”
Essex Police are looking into Mr Lynch’s complaint. The Met pointed out that stop and search is a valuable tool in tackling crime.