A former Indian-origin Scotland Yard officer who fought racism in Britain's largest police force has been cleared of sexually assaulting a prisoner almost 30 years ago, a charge he claimed was brought to destroy his reputation.
Gurpal Virdi, 56, was yesterday cleared of the charges at Southwark Crown Court in London in the incident alleged to have happened in 1986.
"This is a typical reaction from a department that has hounded me since 1998, investigating me and following me around and bugging my phone. Doing all sorts of things," he told the court.
In 1998, Virdi gave evidence to the Stephen Lawrence inquiry into racism in Britain's largest police force.
"It's the same department, the directorate of professional standards, they've always been after me since 1998 and the employment tribunal. That department is a cancer of racism that needs to be cut out and nobody has the courage to do it," he told 'The Guardian.'
In reference to the assault allegations, he said: "It was done to keep me quiet and then to make me look bad in the community, and people did avoid me. It was meant to destroy me."
Virdi has won two employment tribunal cases against the Metropolitan Police - one after he claimed to have been framed by colleagues, and the other after claiming to have been victimised.
His barrister, Henry Blaxland, told the jury: "It is hardly surprising if Gurpal Virdi believes that he is the victim of a conspiracy to frame him. It is hardly surprising if he sees some ulterior motive."
After the verdict, Virdi's solicitor, Matt Foot, called for an inquiry into why the case had been brought despite lack of strong evidence: "It's absolutely disgraceful that he has had to go through this. I believe if it had been somebody else, other than Gurpal Virdi, they would not have been prosecuted.
"He feels he has been further hounded by the Met because he stood up to racism in the police force."
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Fiona Taylor, of the directorate of professional standards at the Met, said: "Once allegations such as these were raised by the victim it was only right that we investigated them thoroughly and impartially.
"That investigation was entirely focused on securing what evidence was available, with respect to what were undeniably very serious allegations. It would not have been proper to proceed in any other way.
"We presented the evidence to the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] who decided the allegations and evidence should be heard by a jury.
