Announcing news that the officers would face a misconduct panel, Independent Office for Police Conduct director Steve Noonan said in September 2023: “The ‘strip search’ of Child Q, a 15-year-old girl, at her school in Hackney caused widespread concern.
Detective Constable Kristina Linge will appear before a three-week gross misconduct hearing alongside PCs Victoria Wray and PC Rafal Szmydynski on June 2 over the treatment of Child Q.
Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway, who leads policing in Hackney and Tower Hamlets, said at the time: “We have been clear in saying that the experience of Child Q should never have happened and was truly regrettable.
According to a notice of the disciplinary hearing, Child Q’s search was “disproportionate in all the circumstances” and performed in a “unjustified, inappropriate, disproportionate, humiliating and degrading” manner.
Hundreds attended large protests across east London and outside Stoke Newington Police Station after a safeguarding review revealed she was taken out of an exam to the school’s medical room for a strip-search while teachers remained outside.
