Ombudsman throws out Scot's claims of racism and ill-treatment by police

The police ombudsman said that there was nothing to support the man’s string of assertions, which were made despite that multiple sources described him as having been very aggressive and volatile.

The incident relates to an arrest in north Belfast last June for disorderly behaviour.

The man, aged 26, claimed he had been “racially abused ... for being Scottish” .

He also said he had been punched on the jaw in a PSNI car after being arrested.

He also alleged that his arm had been bent as he was being placed in a cell, and claimed he was deprived of food and drink during his time in custody.

A police ombudsman investigator obtained accounts from the officers who were in the police car when the man claimed to have been attacked.

They denied the allegations and according to the account they gave to the ombudsman’s investigators, the man had been “extremely aggressive and abusive towards anyone he came in contact with”.

A police doctor also said that the complainant had been “intoxicated, verbally abusive and non co-operative”.

No injury to the man’s jaw was recorded when he was examined.

Neither was there any record that the arrested man had told either the doctor or the custody sergeant he had been punched.

Further inquiries revealed that the man had actually been taken to a cell by a woman, which contradicted his account of a man bending his arm.

Custody records also stated that the man kicked and banged the door for some time before falling asleep, was offered food and drink after waking, and refused both (although the records indicated that he had later accepted a glass of water).

The police Ombudsman investigator said he “did not substantiate any element of his complaint”.

He made his determination on the case in December, but the details have only now been released because it took until May for the man to receive a caution for disorderly behaviour.