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'He’s deluded': Couple who sued police for racial profiling call for retired officers to be held accountable
12 October 2024, 13:22 | Updated: 16 October 2024, 22:03
A black couple, who won a civil dispute with the Metropolitan Police over claims of racial profiling, have told LBC it’s painful that the officers involved haven’t faced disciplinary action.
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Dale Semper, a bank manager, and his partner Denise Huggan, who works in HR, had their case settled by Scotland Yard after they were wrongfully arrested in 2017 and investigated over two years.
Mr Semper told LBC he’d been accused of firearms, money laundering and terrorism offences, as his home was searched and his bank accounts were frozen.
None of the officers involved have faced any misconduct proceedings, despite body-worn video capturing remarks from them questioning where Mr Semper was “originally” from and how he could have such a high paying job.
Read more: Police hunt for self-proclaimed ‘rich kid of Instagram’ after breach of bail for fraud charge
Dale told LBC: “Looking back at it now, seven years later, it’s destroyed me and my family and I felt like most of the time I didn’t want to live and without my family I don’t know what I’d do.
“Because these officers are no longer working for the Met, you have no one to hold to account.
“I feel like these people have moved on with their lives and I’m still here trying to get on but it’s so poor how they’ve handled this situation. These people are just floating around and nobody knows what they’ve done.
“I wanted them to get some kind of repercussions for what they’ve done - the Met knows who these officers are and what they’ve done wrong. If I had to be penalised like this, I want them to have the same sort of consequences, if not worse.”
Dale Semper and his partner Denise Huggan
During the civil action, it was revealed that one officer, while executing a firearms warrant, had looked shocked as he heard about Mr Semper’s finances and property portfolio.
He was captured on video saying: “Really? That’s not bad for a young lad from Montserrat, is it?”
While driving away from the home, an officer was also recorded saying: “He’s clearly up to something. He’s got 14 properties. He lives in luxury. Everything is immaculate. I mean he may be umm you know but where’s he getting all that?”
Another officer was then heard reminding him that his body-worn camera is still recording.
The settlement from Scotland Yard did not include an admission of liability and it’s understood the two main officers who led the money laundering investigation, alongside their supervisor, have retired from the police force.
Others involved in the search and arrest are also believed to have since left the Met.
The Metropolitan Police said an internal investigation found no misconduct for any officer but after a review by the independent police watchdog, the force is now looking again at some specific matters of the complaint.
Dale’s partner Denise told us: “It’s taken all this time but I’m still thinking about it, I’m still triggered by police officers and that’s not going to leave.
“You do still think about what it is we did wrong to be subjected to the scrutiny that the Met put us through and we haven’t got answers for that.
“It’s really terrorised our life and I don’t think just because we have a settlement that it’s ever going to leave us at all.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to trust the police again. We’ve reached out to the Commissioner two times and he’s refused to meet us.
“Our life has been destroyed because of this case and we will not get those years back that we’ve lost.”
The Metropolitan Police was described as being institutionally racist in a report by Baroness Casey in March 2023 - the language of which the commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has declined to accept.
Last week, two officers who had been sacked over a stop and search of Black British athlete Bianca Williams and her partner were given their jobs back after they appealed the findings of a misconduct panel, that they had lied about the smell of cannabis during it.
The chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation has also been suspended after he suggested in an interview that white officers were “hesitating” when dealing with ethnic minority people, over fears they’d be investigated for their actions.
In September, Scotland Yard published a new Race Action Plan to make the force “truly anti-racist” which includes a new stop and search charter and an overhaul of its policy on intimate searches on children.
But Dale and Denise say they don’t believe it will make much difference until there’s an admission of institutional racism.
Mr Semper said: “He’s deluded, thinking there’s no institutional racism and until he sees that there can be no change.”
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said: “The Metropolitan Police has settled a civil claim brought by Dale Semper and members of his family relating to a series of events which occurred between 2017 and 2019.
"This involved searches of their properties and a criminal investigation which was ultimately discontinued with no further action being taken.
“We stand by the necessity to act following information received into allegations of serious criminality in August 2017. We have a duty to follow up intelligence about such matters to ensure public safety.
“We accept some elements of this case were not handled as well as they could have been and we apologise for the impact that has had on the complainants.
"The Metropolitan Police has already apologised during the complaints procedure for certain comments which were made by officers during the investigation and reiterates that apology.”
