Black trainee solicitor stopped by police for ‘looking suspicious’ on way to client prison visit

Get Nadine White's Race Report newsletter for a fresh perspective on the week's news Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A Black trainee solicitor has spoken out after he says he was stopped by five police officers for “looking suspicious” on his way to visit a client in prison. “Due to the conduct of the officers and the inadequacy of the response to my complaint, the only plausible rationale that I could draw at the time is I was stopped because I am a young Black man.” Mr Eldred-Taylor complained to British Transport Police but it was not upheld. Commenting on the case, barrister and star of The Chase quiz show, Shaun Wallace, said despite promises of “real and positive change” following the findings of the MacPherson Report into police racism, prompted by the response to Stephen Lawrence’s murder, nothing has changed. “Eldred, quite understandably and properly, complained about the treatment he received and conduct of the so-called investigating officers and lodged a formal complaint to a complaints department within the British Transport Police however, unsurprisingly, his complaint was dismissed.” Comparing this case with controversial police stops of athletes Bianca Williams and Ricardo Dos Santos, Mr Wallace said these “worrying accounts” only demonstrated that the widespread problem of racial profiling within police show “little signs of abating”.