Zayna Iman’s reminiscence of her 40 hours in police custody comes again in flashes. What she does bear in mind has haunted her for almost three years.
The 39-year-old believes she was drugged and raped in her cell earlier than being left bare and distressed on the ground, cowering beneath a blanket and so disorientated she urinated on herself.
Her quest for solutions over what occurred at Pendleton police station is topic of an IOPC investigation that has thus far raised solely extra questions.
That is regardless of Zayna being handed dozens of pages of paperwork and police CCTV containing hour upon hour of distressing movie – however, crucially, two are nonetheless lacking.
Larger Manchester Police had initially informed her that each one cell footage had been reviewed, and there was no proof to help her rape allegations.
Then the power informed her a number of hours had been ‘corrupted’ and weren’t recoverable.
The IOPC started investigating and shortly found the movie ‘was by no means downloaded’, that GMP gave her false info and denied she had been strip-searched. It’s now analyzing why.
Lacking cell footage is only one of a lot of threads that Zayna remains to be attempting to unravel. Others embody:
- Whether or not any officer at GMP has ever reviewed the ‘corrupted’ footage
- Why GMP gave her false details about the identities of officers concerned in her arrest
- Why the power is refusing to launch CCTV of her arrival in custody
- Why officers claimed she had not been strip-searched
- How GMP’s Skilled Requirements unit ‘did not know’ about historic rape allegations towards the investigating officer assigned to her case
- Why official custody notes don’t match cell CCTV footage
- Why a senior officer made faulty claims about her psychological well being to her MP
Zayna Iman, 39, informed MailOnline she had ‘by no means been in a lot ache’ as she was when she was launched from police detention
After being arrested, taken to Pendleton station and strip-searched, Zayna was left half-naked within the cell
For the primary six hours, Zayna remained calm and quiet, sitting or mendacity beneath a blanket
After CCTV seems to chop out for an hour, she is bare with soaked clothes and is erratic – medical notes present medical doctors believed she was in a drug-related psychosis brought on by a date rape drug
Her ordeal started shortly after midnight on February 5, 2021, when officers arrived at her residence.
The previous service business employee had by no means had involvement with police earlier than however that evening, a pal involved for her welfare, phoned 999 whereas she was excessive on cocaine.
The following 48 hours noticed her detained in a police cell earlier than being transferred to hospital beneath the Psychological Well being Act – the place she informed workers she had been whereas raped in custody.
MailOnline has seen almost 40 hours of CCTV footage, a whole lot of pages of paperwork, intensive medical historical past and spoken to a number of people linked to the case to confirm Zayna’s story.
All the accusations towards Larger Manchester Police had been put to the power. A spokesperson declined to remark whereas an IOPC investigation is ongoing, however admitted the power was ‘not conscious’ of a number of the incidents that occurred by itself CCTV footage.
After arriving at her entrance door, GMP officers spoke to Zayna for greater than an hour by way of her letterbox earlier than forcing entry.
Zayna says she was swiftly restrained and brought into the kitchen, with bodycam footage displaying her being carried into the room by a male officer.
‘There have been 4 males and one feminine officer there, and he or she had these glasses on. She walked in the direction of me, and I bear in mind pondering they seemed big, in all probability as a result of I used to be excessive, and I simply reached out for them,’ Zayna stated.
Police bodycam footage disclosed to her exhibits her all of a sudden reaching for the glasses and being instantly arrested for assaulting a police officer. She was by no means charged with the offence.
‘She slapped me throughout the face,’ the feminine officer is heard to say. Bodycam footage seen by MailOnline doesn’t help this.
Zayna was taken into custody and detained beneath the Psychological Well being Act, which permits officers to take away an individual to a spot of security if they’re displaying indicators of a psychological dysfunction.
Bodycam footage shared with MailOnline exhibits her arrival on the station at round 2.20am on February 5. Whereas Zayna remains to be at the back of the van and nonetheless seems excessive, one of many male officers asks if he ought to flip off his bodycam. It’s then switched off.
The following time she is seen is in cell footage, time-stamped shortly earlier than 3.30am, displaying Zayna being carried right into a police cell by 5 officers and placed on the bottom.
In correspondence seen by MailOnline GMP claims the hour-long hole is as a result of the time-stamp is wrong. However custody data disclosed to Zayna present her arrival on the station was not recorded in any system till 3am, 40 minutes after getting there.
Footage exhibits she was strip searched whereas a minimum of three officers restrained her. At no level did she seem to battle or resist the officers, and her head may be seen lolling back and forth.
That is in stark distinction to earlier bodycam footage, which confirmed her alert, talking rapidly and eloquently to officers.
GMP initially claimed Zayna was not strip searched, then that her garments had been eliminated whereas she was totally acutely aware beneath completely different laws for welfare causes.
However in a letter from Skilled Requirements seen by MailOnline, GMP later admitted this was incorrect and that no various laws exists.
It comes simply weeks after the Baird evaluation uncovered stunning proof of mistreatment of susceptible ladies in GMP custody.
MailOnline has seen almost 40 hours of CCTV footage, a whole lot of pages of paperwork, intensive medical historical past and spoken to a number of people linked to the case
Zayna was arrested in her residence after reaching for a feminine officer’s glasses – she was by no means charged with any offence
Zayna’s clothes and blanket, soaked in urine, are seen on the ground of the Pendleton Station police cell the place she was held
An officer locations his hand on Zayna’s head and neck after she was arrested
MailOnline has watched all the cell footage launched to her by GMP – round 38 hours – and after the strip search, Zayna is calm, quiet and largely nonetheless for the primary six hours of her detention, and is appropriately dressed with a blanket over her. She seems sober.
Then, at 10am on February 5, the CCTV footage cuts out. An hour later at 11am, Zayna is half bare and in a visibly distressed and erratic state.
Not lengthy after, cell footage exhibits she was seated on the ground when she appeared to urinate with out realising.
Along with her garments and blanket soaked, she is left bare, with no clear garments or something to cowl herself, in a urine-filled cell, for nearly a whole 24 hours.
One other lacking hour of footage on February 6 is adopted by additional erratic behaviour, together with pacing the cell and talking to the air.
All through Zayna doesn’t lash out or seem violent – but custody data claimed: ‘Her behaviour is so violent and unstable that we’re unable to enter the cell.’
Simply 40 minutes after this notice within the data, CCTV exhibits two officers calmly walked into Zayna’s cell to offer her meals and exchanged a number of phrases along with her earlier than leaving.
Minutes earlier than her launch, Zayna is lastly given a clear blanket. As she stands up, CCTV footage exhibits a liquid dripping from her genitals which she says was blood.
When Zayna was launched from custody, she was despatched to a psychiatric ward at a neighborhood hospital, the place she stayed for 5 days.
Detailed medical notes present quickly after arrival Zayna informed workers she had been drugged and raped, and had signs together with extreme rectal ache, rectal bleeding and a sore throat.
After arriving on the police station, bodycam footage exhibits the officers switched off their cameras – that is customary observe if CCTV footage is out there, however no footage of her arrival has been disclosed to Zayna
Zayna is seen at the back of a police van earlier than her switch to custody, proper earlier than officers turned off their bodycams
Regardless of reporting being raped, a bodily examination was not carried out.
A number of psychological well being professionals assessed her throughout her transient keep in hospital and notes present they discovered her ‘nice in temper’ and ‘well mannered, participating and heat’.
Medical doctors added there was no proof of her being ‘paranoid’ or ‘delusional’ – and that they believed she had been given a ‘date rape’ drug.
Psychiatrists famous: ‘Miss Iman doesn’t have any prior historical past of psychological dysfunction, she has been admitted with an acute psychotic episode which has resolved with out remedy. It’s extremely probably that that is drug associated – ‘date rape drug’ – which led to a sexual assault.’
The notes added: ‘Zayna believes she had been drugged and raped, the ward are of the opinion that this isn’t a delusional perception given her ongoing signs.’
Zayna stayed in hospital for 5 days earlier than being discharged. By this time, she was nonetheless in ache from what had occurred to her.
Recounting her situation after lastly leaving custody, Zayna, who has waived her anonymity, stated: ‘I’ve by no means felt bodily ache like that in my life.’
Her misery is palpable as she fights again tears. ‘I used to be bleeding from each my [vagina and anus].
‘I bear in mind touching in between my legs and my fingers had been simply lined in blood.’
For a lot of her hospital keep, notes present she was obscure, with workers believing she was beneath the affect of medication.
‘I used to be attempting to inform everybody what had occurred to me,’ Zayna says. ‘However I used to be slurring a lot nobody might perceive me. They may solely make out I used to be saying I might been raped.’
After her launch to hospital, medical doctors assessed Zayna and stated there was no proof of her being ‘paranoid’ or ‘delusional’ – and that they believed she had been given a ‘date rape’ drug earlier than being sexually assaulted
At factors following the lacking footage, Zayna gave the impression to be talking to individuals who weren’t there – whereas the primary six hours confirmed her to be calm and sober
After being discharged, Zayna was left so traumatised that she moved out of Manchester. She then reported the alleged sexual assault to her native power, South Yorkshire Police, however as a result of alleged rape occurring in Manchester, it was referred again to GMP.
Correspondence seen by MailOnline exhibits GMP informed Zayna that each one her cell footage had been reviewed, and no proof to help her allegations of rape had been discovered.
However when Zayna requested for entry to the footage she was knowledgeable in writing that a number of hours had develop into ‘corrupted’ on GMP’s laptop system and weren’t recoverable. The unique footage had already been deleted.
Quickly after, she turned to her native MP Rebecca Lengthy-Bailey, hoping she would have the ability to assist guarantee an intensive investigation was carried out.
District Superintendent Glenn Jones wrote again to Ms Lengthy-Bailey and stated: ‘In our opinion Zayna Iman has psychological well being points.’
No proof was given to help this, and medical notes seen by MailOnline state she had no document of any psychological well being points when assessed.
The brand new proof comes as Dame Vera Baird launched a report into ‘degrading’ and ‘humiliating’ remedy of susceptible ladies by the power
Zayna’s allegations had been handed to Skilled Requirements, the place they had been handed to a male officer – who himself was accused of raping a lady in police custody within the Nineteen Eighties. He was tasked with reviewing the footage of her time in custody.
The officer was by no means charged with any offence, and media experiences present that the lady, who was a intercourse employee, was as an alternative arrested and convicted over claims she had wasted police time. The lady who accused the officer killed herself in 2021.
When Zayna complained about his allocation, GMP stated not one of the officers concerned within the choice knew in regards to the historic allegations towards the officer, and changed him with a feminine investigator.
Zayna was additionally informed all of the custody footage had been reviewed by an investigating officer, however when she requested to see the footage herself, she was all of a sudden knowledgeable that two very important hours had been had been ‘corrupted’ and had been unrecoverable.
She then contacted the IOPC, who started analyzing the footage, and the physique ultimately knowledgeable her that the lacking two hours of CCTV footage ‘had been by no means downloaded’ from the central database.
A spokesperson added: ‘The IOPC investigation is now analyzing who was concerned within the obtain of the footage from the server onto the disc to ascertain why the 2 hours weren’t downloaded.’
The IOPC additionally says it doesn’t know why no audio is out there on the footage supplied by GMP.
Throughout its probe, GMP additionally falsely recognized one of many officers concerned in her arrest.
Zayna was given the unsuitable identify and badge quantity and warranted a number of occasions by GMP they had been appropriate. However when the IOPC received concerned in her case, they found each had been unsuitable and belonged to a different officer who was not on responsibility throughout her detention.
The IOPC informed her: ‘After we clarified with GMP that the identify of the officer who attended your house deal with was PS [redacted], you might have requested why GMP beforehand suggested you it was PC [redacted].
‘That is one thing we’re unable to reply.’
MailOnline requested GMP whether or not any officer had ever watched the lacking two hours of footage, and whether or not it might rule out that Zayna was sexually assaulted whereas in custody. A spokesperson for GMP declined to touch upon each issues.
MP for Salford Rebecca Lengthy-Bailey stated: ‘I’ve beforehand raised my very severe considerations to Larger Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Larger Manchester Police about historic experiences of mistreatment in custody at Pendleton police station.
‘I welcomed guarantees that there can be a full and thorough investigation, but additionally harassed the pressing want for such investigations to be expanded additional and to incorporate wider practices and different reported incidents on the station, whether or not safeguards existed, whether or not they had been adopted, and lacking chunks of time in CCTV footage.
‘I additionally pressed for extra safeguards to be put in place at each Larger Manchester police station and for all custody footage to be randomly reviewed as a part of an ongoing audit course of.
‘While the suggestions of the Baird evaluation will hopefully drive change sooner or later, these reporting historic mistreatment deserve pressing assurances that their instances are being independently investigated, quickly, transparently, totally, with due seriousness and that each one doable info and CCTV footage will likely be positioned and shared with them. ‘
A GMP spokesperson stated: ‘We perceive the considerations raised by Ms Iman’s severe allegations which is why we referred this case to the IOPC final 12 months for an impartial and rigorous evaluation.
‘We proceed to completely co-operate with their ongoing investigation and await their findings.’
An IOPC spokesperson stated: ‘Our investigation right into a criticism made by a lady in regards to the remedy she acquired whereas in police custody continues to progress.
‘The investigation started in August 2023 and pertains to complaints made by the lady relating to the circumstances earlier than and through her detention at Pendleton Police Station in February 2021.
‘A considerable amount of investigative work has been carried out and as a part of our enquiries we have now reviewed physique worn footage, CCTV footage, police incident logs and telephone calls made to the power earlier than and after her detention.
‘We now have obtained accounts from officers and workers who interacted with the complainant throughout her arrest and detention in custody and have performed intensive searches in an try and retrieve the unique CCTV footage.
‘We now have additionally employed an exterior digital forensic firm to help with the interrogation of any arduous drives and USB’s positioned as a part of the search. This has not been profitable thus far. Additional investigative work is ongoing to ascertain the way it went lacking.
‘We proceed to supply the complainant with month-to-month updates on the progress of our investigation.’
