Autistic 14-year-old girl ‘attempted suicide following police strip-search’

An investigation has been launched into a mother’s claims that her 14-year-old autistic daughter was strip-searched by Metropolitan Police officers. The teenager was left traumatised and attempted suicide after the ordeal, it was reported.

The force confirmed the woman had made a complaint after the BBC reported the girl was traumatised and tried to kill herself. The mixed-race girl, whom the broadcaster referred to as “Olivia”, was said to have been out with friends when they argued with two boys who phoned police alleging that the group had attempted to rob them at knifepoint.

The report comes after a backlash over revelations that a 15-year-old girl, known as Child Q, was strip-searched by female Metropolitan Police officers in 2020 in the knowledge that she was menstruating after she was wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis at her east London school.

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Olivia’s mother, whom the BBC referred to as “Lisa”, told BBC Radio 4’s File On 4 programme that officers searched Olivia and her friends at the scene and the group were arrested in December 2020. Lisa said she told the officers on the phone that her daughter had autism and learning difficulties, and had been self-harming.

Olivia was held in custody for more than 20 hours after being found to be in possession of a sharpened stick and a small blade, which her mother said was for the purpose of self-harming. The discovery, Lisa said, prompted six officers to forcibly strip Olivia and carry out an intimate search in the presence of male police.

The youngster was then handcuffed and strip-searched, Lisa said. “Olivia was actually on her period at the time too. And they cut off her