Covered in blood, naked and unable to use the toilet - the stories of women kept in GMP custody

A damning report has found women and girls were left naked after "demeaning" strip searches, covered in their own blood, and unable to use the toilet while in police custody.

Dame Vera Baird's inquiry has shone a light on some of the worst experiences of females - many extremely vulnerable - arrested and held in Greater Manchester Police custody.

More than 15 people - including three men - gave evidence to the report, highlighting the force's "shocking disregard for rights of those coming into contact with the criminal justice system".

Of those 15, Dame Vera found seven had been unlawfully arrested.

Custody records, detention logs, crime reports, witness statements and CCTV footage were among documents and data that were trawled through.

These are just some of the victim experiences submitted as evidence to the report:

Sophie

Sophie was unlawfully arrested for criminal damage to an abusive ex-partner's car in September 2023.

She was awaiting a hysterectomy and was bleeding heavily at the time of her detainment.

When she was in custody at Cheadle Heath Police station, the cell had no toilet roll or sanitary products and within 30 minutes she had bled through her clothing.

After 30-40 minutes of ringing the buzzer for help, a male officer answered her call and came back with a sanitary towel some time later.

She needed medication but was told only a nurse could administer it - and that nurse would not be on shift until the morning.

Sophie believes that the whole experience has ruined her life.

Maria

Maria, a domestic abuse and historic rape survivor, was found to be unlawfully arrested for malicious communications and stripped searched in custody.

Maria describes being told to take all her clothes off and, when completely naked, to "open the lips of her vagina" and to bend over and open her anal area similarly.

She felt humiliated and demeaned - and all the police officers were looking for was a vape.

Chantelle

Chantelle, who was arrested in March 2023, was kept in the "stifling and airless" police van for more than an hour.

She asked to contact a family member to check that her younger child (who was extremely unwell) was safe, but that request was refused.

When she was in a police cell, she pressed the cell buzzer to ask for toilet roll, needing to use the lavatory, but ended up having to use her jumper to wipe herself.

Chantelle, who was menstruating at the time, was left soaked in blood for most of the 16 hours’ detention, terrified that she would get toxic shock from the tampon she was using.

Jane

An older woman with health and mobility problems, Jane was unable to inflate a breathalyser and was arrested and taken to Swinton Police Station.

She says she was assaulted by a female police officer who, with at least one other officer, was taking her to the cell.

This officer held her very tightly by her arm and Jane was pulled down the corridor and “propelled” through the cell door, onto her walking stick.

The police knew right from her arrival that Jane could not use a cell toilet but when she requested to use the lavatory, nobody responded.

Without a toilet guard rail or toilet paper, Jane had an "accident of the worst kind" in her cell and had to clean herself with her trousers.

There was no evidence to suggest Jane was driving over the limit.

Diana

Diana was unnecessarily arrested at her home for harassment in August 2022.

She told the custody officer at Ashton Police Station she had mental health problems, had never been in a cell before, and might attempt suicide if she was locked in.

She says she was put into a dirty 'suicide cell' and was scared to use the toilet as she knew a camera was watching her.

Diana pleaded for her mental health PA and solicitor and self-harmed in the cell.

She was seen by a mental health nurse hours later, but said: “I felt that they were destroying me, and would put me in prison, and the only way I could get out would have been suicide."

Diana says that she will never trust the police again and would die rather than rely on them.

Scarlett

A survivor of sexual assault, Scarlett was under 16 when she was detained in Bury Police Station for more than 24 hours in relation to a robbery in August 2019.

Scarlett suffers from a condition and says she was not given her medication and was in a disturbed state in the cell.

She has said she was there for a while before she was unlawfully strip searched in a room close with a glass door through which anyone could see her in her underwear.

Scarlett was not provided with an appropriate adult, and was wrongly told that if she objected, she would face a criminal charge.

She was arrested again in December 2022 and, when she asked for a sanitary product, an officer threw a tampon at her head and called her a “tramp” and a “dirty b***h”.

The then 14-year-old says she has been left traumatised by the force's treatment of her.

Matthew

During a period of just over a year, Matthew was arrested five times, strip searchedand left naked in a cell three times.

He was detained for respectively 10 hours, 21 hours, and nine hours before being released and facing no criminal process.

Dame Vera said, in her view, "Matthew has been unlawfully arrested and detained three times".

Speaking about the report, Dame Vera said: "It gives me no pleasure to have uncovered what I have in this report.

"I have been horrified by some of the things I have heard and I'm so grateful to the people who have come forward.

"It is a testament to their courage, reliving their traumatic experiences in the custody of GMP.

"This may have started about three people in one police station but the public responded to our call until the evidence spread across every district and custody suite in Greater Manchester.

"While this report contains 14 personal narratives, there is a pattern between them which raises questions about the culture at GMP.

"My findings show that there is significant and, indeed, urgent work required if the public of Greater Manchester are to have full confidence in their police force."

What does Greater Manchester Police force say?

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who oversees GMP said the report "reveals is a problematic culture and practices that must change".

He added: “As people will be able to read in the personal narratives, many of those people were vulnerable before their arrest, as survivors of domestic or sexual abuse, and did not pose a risk to the public.

“And yet, they were put through a demeaning experience of police custody and, in some cases, strip search.

“In all cases featured, there are examples of extremely poor, indefensible and inhumane treatment.

“A recurring pattern is what appears to be a lack of even-handedness in the investigation of disputes, where the more vulnerable person is reduced to a state of even greater vulnerability and those posing a greater risk to public safety do not receive the same attention."

Chief Constable Stephen Watson said the force "accepts the recommendations" made, and commits "to implementing them fully and faithfully with a view to making lasting improvements".

He added: "The issues raised in Dame Vera’s report speaks to a period when our custody system was under pressure not performing to an acceptable standard.

“It evidences poor systems, structures, and incivility, insensitivity and compounded by a lack of routine leadership, scrutiny, and individual examples of low standards, poor behaviour, insensitivity, and a lack of care in the face of vulnerability."

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