Hundreds of illegal searches carried out at airport

4:16pm Wednesday 12th December 2007

By Andy Tate

Police have carried out illegal stop and searches on hundreds of passengers at Gatwick airport, ministers have revealed.

Sussex Police failed to win the correct authorisation for anti-terrorist searches conducted during three weeks in September due to a paperwork blunder.

And when the mistake came to light it was discovered that a similar gaffe took place in 2003, Home Office minister Tony McNulty disclosed in a written statement to MPs.

Officials at the Home Office are now reviewing all the paperwork connected with stop and search tactics under the Terrorism Act 2000 in case other mistakes have occurred.

Sussex Police are also sending apologies to nearly 260 people they stopped and searched illegally.

Chief constables must apply to the Home Secretary for permission to use this special type of stop and search, which grants officers the power to stop an individual without "reasonable grounds" that a crime is in progress.

Mr McNulty said: "The application by Sussex Police, dated September 3 2007, did not follow the recognised procedure.

"Forces submit applications to the National Joint Unit at the Metropolitan Police Service which are then sent to the Home Office for ministerial authorisation.

"In this case, due primarily to a process failure, the application was not passed to the Home Office ... but the force continued to use the powers for the period up to September 25."

He added: "Sussex Police has confirmed that 259 stop and searches were carried out at Gatwick Airport during the unauthorised period.

"However, Sussex Police will shortly be writing to all of the individuals concerned to apologise."

The minister said he later found out that a similar incident occurred in June 2003.

He said: "All steps have now been taken to ensure ... that such regrettable and serious omissions do not occur again."

Mr McNulty added that officials had now drawn up more "robust systems" to avoid a repeat of the gaffe, and were reviewing previous authorisations of the powers to check if they had been used in error at any other times.

A Sussex Police spokesman said the force accepted full responsibility for the paperwork blunder.

He said: "Sussex Police is writing to all the people who were stopped during the relevant period explaining why the checks were carried out and apologising for our error."

Were you stopped and searched at Gatwick during that time? Tell us your stories below.