More women singled out for Gatwick strip searches, says report

Women are being disproportionately targeted for strip searches at Gatwick Airport, a report revealed today.

John Vine, the Government’s chief inspector of immigration found a series of irregularities in the way in which searches were being conducted. The study found that Afro-Caribbean women were being singled out more than any other group.

He said: “Although the majority of person searches involved men, women were significantly more likely to be subject to a strip search than men if a search was undertaken.”

Last summer, 54 per cent of women who were stopped and inspected by Border Force officers were subsequently strip searched. For men the proportion was less than 20 per cent.

Grounds for subjecting women to a strip search included the fact that they had bought a ticket the day before travel, were carrying £200 in cash or had said they were in Britain to look for hair and beauty products.

According to Mr Vine there were insufficient grounds to search the women let alone subject them to a full strip search.

He added the way in which the searches were done and recorded was also legally questionable.

“The failure to observe the correct recording procedure can render evidence inadmissible in court and mean officers could face charges of assault in relation to the conduct of person searches,” he said.