Strip-search cops ‘grabbed my breasts’
Lecturer challenges hearing decision on claims of ‘degrading’ treatment
A COLLEGE lecturer claims she was injured during a “degrading” police strip search where her breasts were grabbed by officers.
Koshka Duff was arrested on suspicion of obstruction after offering a legal advice card to a black teenager who was subject to a police stop-and-search in London in 2013.
She claims officers subjected her to a “very violating and humiliating experience” which left her with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Custody sergeant Kurtis Howard was later cleared of misconduct and the Metropolitan Police said they were satisfied investigations were thorough.
Now, Koshka, a lecturer at Nottingham University, is challenging the hearing’s findings in a judicial review.
Outlining her ordeal, she said: “They caused significant injury and subjected me to degrading treatment.
“It was three officers on top of me but it felt like it was more because they were kneeling on me with their full weight and were all over me.
“They tied my legs together and had my hands in handcuffs. They cut my clothes off with scissors and ripped out my piercings. While they were doing that, they were twisting my arms around behind my back. When they had me completely naked, they touched my breasts and between my legs.”
Koshka, 30, from Aberdeen, said the officers “grabbed” her breasts “roughly” in the process of pulling her on to her back over someone’s knee. One officer touched her genitals, she said, while someone made a comment that suggested to her they were looking for genital piercings.
She claimed: “I think they thought it would soften me up and make me give them my details by essentially subjecting me to very painful and degrading treatment in order to make me comply.”
The Met held a misconduct hearing in August but halfway through it was argued Sergeant Howard had no case to answer.
The force said he “made several attempts to respectfully engage with the complainant, all of which were caught on CCTV” and the misconduct panel was satisfied he had “reasonable grounds” to authorise the strip search.