Sikh policeman wins race case

The hearing said that Virdi was motivated by frustration after being turned down for promotion and was planning a racial discrimination claim against the force. The employment tribunal, which was the first stage of Virdi’s appeal against the Met, found that Virdi was the subject of racial discrimination during the internal police investigation. Virdi was treated very differently from the white woman officer, Police Constable Jackie Bachelor, who was also a suspect at the start of the investigation. Most of the letters sent were traced to Bachelor’s computer, and one to Virdi’s.

Among other things, Virdi’s home was searched for seven hours by a surveillance team normally reserved for counter-terrorist operations, while Bachelor was simply questioned informally. The tribunal found that the explanations put forward by the Metropolitan police, "as representing good investigation practice were not sustainable or justifiable". It concluded: "We therefore infer and conclude that the reason for their failures is not incompetence, but is because of Sergeant Virdi’s race."

Virdi had announced his decision to challenge the Met and clear his name right after the hearing said he has been vindicated. "The tribunal achieved the results that totally vindicate me from these silly allegations" he said. Virdi has always maintained that he was set up, in an effort to discredit him, after he challenged white officers on race crime.

He had threatened to expose the lax manner in which his fellow officers were investigating a race attack which took place in Hanwell, West London, in March 1998, less than a month before he was suspended. Virdi had been one of the first officers at the scene of the attack in which a gang of white youths attacked an Iraqi and an Indian teenager, stabbing them 13 times, while shouting racist abuse.

He found that the case had not been registered as a race crime and complained to senior officers, but was reprimanded. The Met has been enormously prickly about charges of racism after a government inquiry into the murder of a black teenager, Stephen Lawrence, found that his white killers were still free because of the police racism. Virdi was one of several non-white officers who gave evidence to the inquiry of racism in the force. The head of the Met at the time, Sir Paul Condon, was forced to admit that the organisation was institutionally racist. The reluctance with which Condon admitted the charge continues to be the chief hurdle to any real change within the police force.

Ian Blair, the Met’s acting commissioner, said the tribunal’s decision was a "tough one for the Met, but one we accept". He said: "We have reviewed the judgement and will not be appealng against it." Blair said: "It is time to draw a line under this long story." He said "We have already been in contact with Mr Virdi’s representative to arrange an urgent meeting to seek his views on the future."

In March, Virdi said that he expected eventually to return to the Met. He is no longer certain of this. Following the Tribunal, he said, "I wanted to clear my name, that is the first and utmost thing, but I will have to reassess everything." He said he has always wanted to be a policeman but added: "Unfortunately there have been senior officers that have let the system down and if they have any sense, they should resign."