TWO Metropolitan Police constables have been dismissed without notice after a disciplinary panel found their actions during a stop & search of two black athletes amounted to gross misconduct.

Jonathan Clapham and Sam Franks were sacked after it was found they lied about smelling cannabis when they pulled over Portuguese Olympic sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos, 28, and his partner and Team GB athlete Bianca Williams, 29, on July 4 2020.

They were accused of racially profiling the couple alongside fellow Met officers Acting Sergeant Rachel Simpson and PCs Allan Casey and Michael Bond.

The police followed the athletes as they drove to their west London home from training with their baby son, then three months old, in the back seat of their Mercedes.

The panel heard that they followed Mr Dos Santos in their police carrier because of the “appalling” and “suspicious” nature of his driving and were doing their duty when they conducted the stop and search.

The couple were handcuffed and searched on suspicion of having drugs and weapons after they were pulled over outside their property, but nothing was found.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) brought the case against the five officers and said that the detention of Mr Dos Santos and Ms Williams was “because they were black” and was “excessive, unreasonable and unjustified.”

Karon Monaghan KC, for the IOPC, told the panel at the start of the hearing that the watchdog’s case would say that there is institutional discrimination in the Met Police.

The IOPC’s case relied on wider documents and reports that indicated black people are much more likely to be stopped and searched in London more generally, and that black people are routinely treated with more suspicion and hostility by police officers and stereotyped as criminal.

Mr Dos Santos accused the officers of detaining him for “DWB — driving while black.” The panel heard Mr Dos Santos was stopped nine times within four weeks of buying a car in 2018.

When shown body-worn footage of him mocking and swearing at the officers, he accepted his behaviour, saying: “Everybody deals with trauma differently.”

He told the panel while giving evidence that he had been afraid for the safety of his partner and his son.

Ms Williams cried as she watched footage of Mr Dos Santos getting pulled from the driver’s seat to the roadside and handcuffed. She denied suggestions her partner could have acted differently to avoid police attention, insisting that “he can’t change the colour of his skin.”

All five officers gave evidence over the course of the misconduct hearing in which they denied accusations of racism.

The panel heard they followed Mr Dos Santos in their police carrier because of the “appalling” and “suspicious” nature of his driving and were doing their duty when they conducted the stop and search.

But Ms Monaghan told the panel that these were exaggerated descriptions that did not reflect the reality of Mr Dos Santos not speeding around corners, indicating before all of his turns, not driving through red lights and not skidding on the road.

PCs Casey, Franks, Clapham and Bond all said they smelled cannabis during the stop and search and denied suggestions that this was made up to justify their actions.

Today, the panel found PCs Clapham and Franks had lied about smelling cannabis during the stop and search.

Chairwoman Chiew Yin Jones said their conduct had breached standards of professional behaviour in respect of honesty and integrity and thus amounted to gross misconduct.

PCs Casey and Bond and Sgt Simpson were found not to have breached any standards.

After the hearing, Dos Santos said: “We’ve supported the IOPC case over the past three years and it’s highlighted what most black people are far too aware of regardless of their background, education and employment. They are nine times more likely to be stopped by the Met and three times more likely to be handcuffed.

“The allegations made by the police officers that I was guilty of bad driving, threatening violence and drugs were dishonest. I believe these are false allegations and were based on racist stereotypes and show very little has changed in policing in London since the Stephen Lawrence case.

“If you can’t trust the police to be honest and accept when they have done bad and stereotype black people, what hope is there? I don’t believe that the panel has been brave enough to review what the Casey report has already clearly stated, which is that the Met Police is institutionally racist.

“This case has taken a big toll on our family and on our careers but it’s crucial that those people who have a voice use it.”