White officers say Met is racist

Six police officers are taking Scotland Yard to an employment tribunal, claiming they were discriminated against for being white.

The officers, members of the Metropolitan Police Territorial Support Group, were tried and acquitted two years ago over alleged race-related assaults.

Lynne Burns, solicitor for the men, said the investigation into the officers was racially biased and allegedly favoured the evidence of a black officer who was part of the unit. All six were cleared at a trial at Kingston Crown Court in 2009.

Bill Wilson, the sergeant who led the team but has since retired, says that after the trial he and others were sidelined. "If it had been a white officer making that allegation, the matter would have been dealt with in-house and that would have been the end of it," he told the BBC. PA