Fury as police hearing is halted

Mr Haynes said the strip search was "inhumane"

A man who helped police with diversity training says he is furious an officer who strip-searched him has not faced a disciplinary hearing.

Alioune Haynes, from Gillingham, made a complaint against an officer after he was searched following a visit to a Chatham nightclub in March 2005.

The month before he had given one of several diversity talks to Kent Police.

Two officers were due to appear at a disciplinary hearing in June, but it was halted for legal reasons.

Kent Police said all the rules were followed, but lessons might be learnt after studying the findings of their investigation.

The last three or four years of our lives that we've been assisting Kent Police with their diversity training was all in vain Roxanne Haynes

Mr Haynes, who was a DJ at the Chatham club, said the strip search was "inhumane".

He said he refused to take a drug test because he was being unfairly singled out because he was black.

An off-duty black police officer, who was a friend of Mr Haynes, was also strip-searched after visiting the nightclub in 25 March, 2006, and filed an official report about the incident.

Mr Haynes said: "It was in a completely unprofessional manner the way how this had gone about, the things that were said to me at that particular time, it was completely unprofessional, not what I would expect of a police officer."

No drugs were found on Mr Haynes, and he said he had never been given an apology.

According to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 officers must have reasonable grounds to carry out a strip search.

Kent Police said they strip-searched people "relatively rarely".

'Fair treatment'

In June, a disciplinary hearing for a Kent Police constable and a sergeant was convened, but no evidence was heard and the tribunal was halted after the force took independent legal advice.

Mr Haynes' mother Roxanne said: "We've gone nowhere. So the last three or four years of our lives that we've been assisting Kent Police with their diversity training was all in vain."

We've got the report - we will go through that in some detail, we will pick from it if there's any lessons to be learnt or good practice Assistant Chief Constable Steve Harris

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Harris said: "We've got the report. We will go through that in some detail, we will pick from it if there's any lessons to be learnt or good practice, and we'll make use of that.

"The officers themselves have not done anything wrong."

In a statement, a spokesman for the force also said: "Kent Police is committed to the fair treatment of everyone within our communities."