Anti-knife tsar awarded Met payout over strip-search

A government-backed anti-knife crime campaigner has won damages from the Met Police after being strip-searched by officers, The Independent can reveal.

- NADINE WHITE

Faron Paul was paid £9,000 following his ordeal where he was subjected to a cavity search by six white, male officers at Charing Cross police station after being arrested during a traffic stop in October 2021.

News of the payout came in the same week the 38-year-old met with Sir Keir Starmer and actor Idris Elba in Downing Street for a summit on the government’s new knife crime campaign.

Referring to the strip-search incident, Mr Paul, who has been independently running a knife amnesty scheme in London called Faz Amnesty, claimed the officers involved “were on a power trip”.

“It upsets me because the officers knew exactly who I was and the work that I do in the community,” he told The Independent. “Yet they chose to take advantage of and racially profile me, then made malicious allegations against me, that I had to fight against to prove that they were the aggressors in the situation that they tried to make me liable for. Fighting back has made me feel as though I’ve reclaimed some of my power.”