Babar Ahmad - Police Abuse Case

Police Abuse Case

Babar Ahmad was first arrested at his Tooting home on 2 December 2003 by UK anti-terrorist police of 1 Unit 1 Area Territorial Support Group based at the high security Paddington Green Police Station. By the time he arrived in the custody suite of the police station, he had sustained at least 73 injuries, all later documented by both police and independent doctors, as well as in photographic and video evidence.

He filed a formal complaint that was supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). He complained that officers had beaten him with fists and knees, stamped on his bare feet with boots, rubbed metal handcuffs on his forearm bones, sexually abused him, mocked the Islamic faith by placing him into the Muslim prayer position and taunting, "Where is your God now?", and applied life-threatening neck holds to him until he felt he was about to die. Officers denied the claims, saying Ahmad had battled like a "caged tiger" during his arrest, adding his injuries were either self-inflicted or caused by a legal tackle that took him to the ground when he was first detained.

On 10 September 2004, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that there was "insufficient evidence" to prosecute any of the police officers involved in the attack. However, on 17 January 2005 the IPCC declared that PC Roderick James-Bowen (born 1971) would face internal police disciplinary procedures over the alleged assault.

On 13 April 2005 PC James-Bowen was cleared at a Police Misconduct Tribunal held at Woolwich Crown Court. Metropolitan Police Commander Andre Baker, the President of the Tribunal, stated that PC James-Bowen should be "commended, not castigated... for his great bravery" in arresting Ahmad.

On 18 March 2009, Babar Ahmad was awarded £60,000 compensation at the High Court in London after the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson admitted that he had been the victim of a "serious, gratuitous and prolonged attack".

On 26 March 2009, Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced an inquiry into the Babar Ahmad case with external judicial oversight by retired judge Sir Geoffrey Grigson, to report back to the Metropolitan Police Authority.-

On 3 November 2009, following his acquittal in a separate racial abuse trial, 42-year-old PC Mark Jones of 1 Area TSG was named as being involved with the attack on Babar Ahmad. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, announced that he was taking the case "very seriously" while considering whether to prosecute PC Jones and the other officers involved in the alleged assault on Babar Ahmad.

In August 2010 it was announced that Police Constables Nigel Cowley, John Donohue, Roderick James-Bowen and Mark Jones would be prosecuted for their part in the alleged assault on Babar Ahmad. The trial began on Tuesday, 3 May 2011, at Southwark Crown Court, London. On 3 June 2011 they were found not guilty. A recording from an MI5 bug in Ahmad's home did not include any screams of agony and no officers could be heard mocking Ahmad's faith.