High Court challenge to searches

Police stop-and-search powers are being used in a "disproportionate" way against black people with "no adequate explanations", the High Court has been told in a landmark legal case.

Ann Juliette Roberts, who is of Afro-Caribbean heritage, is seeking a ruling that the way the Metropolitan Police exercises its powers to tackle knife and gang crime is "incompatible" with human rights laws.

Ms Roberts, 38, a special needs assistant from Upper Edmonton in north London, was restrained face-down on the floor and handcuffed after she refused to be searched in 2010.