Woman stripped naked by police says they ‘drugged and sexually assaulted her’
A woman has claimed she was drugged and sexually assaulted in a police cell after she was stripped and left topless in custody.
Zayna Iman, 38, has made the accusations against Greater Manchester Police (GMP), with CCTV footage allegedly showing a number of different assaults.
Footage taken from inside her cell shows her being forced face down onto a mattress before officers took off her jeans, cut off her knickers and removed her top and bra.
Zayna told Sky News: ‘Instead of providing an unconscious female with medical attention they thought, ‘I know let’s take her clothes off instead and leave her there.
‘It’s just something that the police do for their own perverse kicks.’
Police broke into her home in the early hours of February 5, 2021, and arrested her after she knocked the glasses off a female officer’s face.
Officers said they were following up a welfare callout over a woman high on cocaine.
Over the next 40 hours or so, Zayna – who has waived her right to anonymity – was taken to and held at a police station.
According to Sky News, there are three hours of missing footage from her arrest, which police have so far failed to supply.
Zayna’s allegation is supported by her medical records which show evidence of sexual injuries, it is claimed.
She has also shared her concerns with former GMP chief superintendent, Martin Harding, who has seen the footage and the inconsistencies with the custody log, and says her claims are credible.
Mr Harding said: ‘I believe she was raped. I believe she was raped by an officer and I believe the organisation is covering it up.’
GMP has not explained why the footage is missing but says there is currently no evidence to suggest any employees have misconducted themselves or committed a criminal offence.
An investigation by Sky found three significant gaps for which GMP failed to provide the footage, the first coming shortly after Zayna was arrested at 1.53am, according to police paperwork.
A police body-cam captures Zayna as she is bundled into the back of a police van at 1.59am, where she says she passed out.
The journey to the police station should have taken just 10 minutes but Zayna isn’t seen again for almost another hour and a half, when she is carried into the cell, apparently unconscious at 3.26am.
She can’t remember the journey and there is no bodycam footage inside the van. Separately obtained CCTV footage shows an officer getting in through a side door.
When she does reappear, Zayna is carried by three female police officers.
A male officer walks in and stands close to the door of her cell before disappearing.
A fourth female officer helps in what Zayna describes as a strip search, although police suggest her clothes were removed and replaced with anti-rip garments over welfare concerns.
Harding says he can see ‘no justification at all’ for the alleged strip search and there is nothing on the custody record to explain the grounds or that it was carried out at all.
Just after 5am, lying on a blue mat and covered by a blanket, Zayna finds she has been left a top to wear.
She sits with her hands to her head at 5.34am, when the police log says she underwent a medical exam.
No one is seen entering the cell on the CCTV footage and she does not move from the spot the entire hour.
The next gap in the footage comes after Zayna is seen sitting on a bench with a blanket pulled up over her knees with a drink by her side.
At 9.49am, she becomes agitated, and throws the cup across the room before looking up to the camera in a state of distress, her hands pressed to her face.
When she next appears at 11am, Zayna is topless and clearly agitated, hitting her head with her hands and gesturing with her arms.
She is behaving strangely, in a sexual manner, as she runs her right hand through her long dark hair.
Zayna remains in a state of undress for the next 26 hours. The log says nine times that she is not fit to be detained yet there she stays.
At one point she stands on the bench, a blanket draped around her shoulders, pointing to what appears to be blood on the surface between her feet.
The third missing part of footage comes after Zayna, now completely naked, looks directly at the camera immediately before it cuts out again at 1pm the next day.
An hour later, still naked, she is talking up to the camera and pointing at the cell door.
She is finally given a tracksuit to put on at 8.14pm before leaving the cell a few minutes later.
After her release, Zayna went straight to hospital. Her medical report states: ‘Miss Iman does not have any prior history of mental disorder, she has been admitted with an acute psychotic episode which has resolved without treatment.
‘It is highly likely that this is drug related to ‘the date rape drug’ which led to a sexual assault.’
Medical records also indicate sexual injuries.
She said: ‘I remember being placed in a transportation vehicle and I just felt a sense of relief, like I’m safe now.
‘I remember talking to people through a glass window and trying to explain what happened and I’m pointing here, here – places where it hurt.
The Manchester mayor’s office has told Zayna that GMP have all the footage from the police cell.
She added: ‘Why would you withhold footage? The very footage that could either prove or disprove my allegations you will not part with.
‘Who’s got something to hide? I’m openly saying that at some point during my detention with Greater Manchester Police I was drugged and sexually assaulted, prove me wrong – give me the footage.’
A spokesperson for GMP said: ‘Greater Manchester Police is committed to delivering outstanding service to all those the force comes in to contact with.
‘If service is proven to have fallen below an acceptable level, the force apologises and takes the necessary action.
‘GMP is aware that these three individuals are unhappy with the service they received when they were arrested and detained – their complaints have or are being investigated by the force.
‘Though one investigation is ongoing, there is currently no evidence to suggest any GMP employees have misconducted themselves or committed a criminal offence.
‘Under the definition within the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, two of these individuals were not strip searched.
‘Due to concerns for their welfare, their clothing was removed and replaced with anti-rip garments – this process is subject to different legislation and guidance.’
Police have not explained the missing footage.
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