Strip-searched, naked and left fearing she’d been drugged and raped in a police cell: Inside mystery of woman’s 40 hours in custody – and crucial two hours of missing CCTV

Zayna Iman’s memory of her 40 hours in police custody comes back in flashes. What she does remember has haunted her for nearly three years.

The 39-year-old believes she was drugged and raped in her cell before being left naked and distressed on the floor, cowering under a blanket and so disorientated she urinated on herself.

Her quest for answers over what happened at Pendleton police station is subject of an IOPC investigation that has so far raised only more questions.

This is despite Zayna being handed dozens of pages of documents and police CCTV containing hour upon hour of distressing film – but, crucially, two are still missing.

Greater Manchester Police had initially told her that all cell footage had been reviewed, and there was no evidence to support her rape allegations.

Then the force told her several hours had been ‘corrupted’ and were not recoverable.

The IOPC began investigating and soon discovered the film ‘was never downloaded’, that GMP gave her false information and denied she had been strip-searched. It is now examining why.

Missing cell footage is just one of a number of threads that Zayna is still trying to unravel. Others include:

• Whether any officer at GMP has ever reviewed the ‘corrupted’ footage
• Why GMP gave her false information about the identities of officers involved in her arrest
• Why the force is refusing to release CCTV of her arrival in custody
• Why officers claimed she had not been strip-searched 
• How GMP’s Professional Standards unit ‘didn’t know’ about historic rape allegations against the investigating officer assigned to her case
• Why official custody notes do not match cell CCTV footage
• Why a senior officer made erroneous claims about her mental health to her MP 

Zayna Iman, 39, told MailOnline she had ‘never been in so much pain’ as she was when she was released from police detention

After being arrested, taken to Pendleton station and strip-searched, Zayna was left half-naked in the cell

For the first six hours, Zayna remained calm and quiet, sitting or lying under a blanket

After CCTV appears to cut out for an hour, she is naked with soaked clothing and is erratic – medical notes show doctors believed she was in a drug-related psychosis caused by a date rape drug

Her ordeal began shortly after midnight on February 5, 2021, when officers arrived at her home.

The former service industry worker had never had involvement with police before but that night, a friend concerned for her welfare, phoned 999 while she was high on cocaine.

The next 48 hours saw her detained in a police cell before being transferred to hospital under the Mental Health Act – where she told staff she had been while raped in custody.

MailOnline has seen nearly 40 hours of CCTV footage, hundreds of pages of documents, extensive medical history and spoken to several individuals connected to the case to verify Zayna’s story.

All of the accusations against Greater Manchester Police were put to the force. A spokesperson declined to comment while an IOPC investigation is ongoing, but admitted the force was ‘not aware’ of some of the incidents that occurred on its own CCTV footage. 

After arriving at her front door, GMP officers spoke to Zayna for more than an hour through her letterbox before forcing entry.

Zayna says she was swiftly restrained and taken into the kitchen, with bodycam footage showing her being carried into the room by a male officer.

‘There were four males and one female officer there, and she had these glasses on. She walked towards me, and I remember thinking they looked huge, probably because I was high, and I just reached out for them,’ Zayna said.

Police bodycam footage disclosed to her shows her suddenly reaching for the glasses and being immediately arrested for assaulting a police officer. She was never charged with the offence.

‘She slapped me across the face,’ the female officer is heard to say. Bodycam footage seen by MailOnline does not support this.

Zayna was taken into custody and detained under the Mental Health Act, which allows officers to remove a person to a place of safety if they are showing signs of a mental disorder.

Bodycam footage shared with MailOnline shows her arrival at the station at around 2.20am on February 5. While Zayna is still in the back of the van and still appears high, one of the male officers asks if he should turn off his bodycam. It is then switched off. 

The next time she is seen is in cell footage, time-stamped shortly before 3.30am, showing Zayna being carried into a police cell by five officers and put on the ground.

In correspondence seen by MailOnline GMP claims the hour-long gap is because the time-stamp is incorrect. But custody records disclosed to Zayna show her arrival at the station was not recorded in any system until 3am, 40 minutes after getting there.

Footage shows she was strip searched while at least three officers restrained her. At no point did she appear to struggle or resist the officers, and her head can be seen lolling from side to side. 

This is in stark contrast to earlier bodycam footage, which showed her alert, speaking quickly and eloquently to officers.

GMP originally claimed Zayna was not strip searched, then that her clothes were removed while she was fully conscious under different legislation for welfare reasons.

But in a letter from Professional Standards seen by MailOnline, GMP later admitted this was incorrect and that no alternative legislation exists.

It comes just weeks after the Baird review exposed shocking evidence of mistreatment of vulnerable women in GMP custody. 

MailOnline has seen nearly 40 hours of CCTV footage, hundreds of pages of documents, extensive medical history and spoken to several individuals connected to the case

Zayna was arrested in her home after reaching for a female officer’s glasses – she was never charged with any offence

Zayna’s clothing and blanket, soaked in urine, are seen on the floor of the Pendleton Station police cell where she was held

An officer places his hand on Zayna’s head and neck after she was arrested

MailOnline has watched all of the cell footage released to her by GMP – around 38 hours – and after the strip search, Zayna is calm, quiet and largely still for the first six hours of her detention, and is appropriately dressed with a blanket over her. She appears sober.

Then, at 10am on February 5, the CCTV footage cuts out. An hour later at 11am, Zayna is half naked and in a visibly distressed and erratic state.

Not long after, cell footage shows she was seated on the floor when she appeared to urinate without realising.

With her clothes and blanket soaked, she is left naked, with no clean clothes or anything to cover herself, in a urine-filled cell, for almost an entire 24 hours. 

Another missing hour of footage on February 6 is followed by further erratic behaviour, including pacing the cell and speaking to the air.

Throughout Zayna does not lash out or appear violent – yet custody records claimed: ‘Her behaviour is so violent and volatile that we are unable to enter the cell.’ 

Just 40 minutes after this note in the records, CCTV shows two officers calmly walked into Zayna’s cell to give her food and exchanged a few words with her before leaving.

Minutes before her release, Zayna is finally given a clean blanket. As she stands up, CCTV footage shows a liquid dripping from her genitals which she says was blood.

When Zayna was released from custody, she was sent to a psychiatric ward at a local hospital, where she stayed for five days.

Detailed medical notes show soon after arrival Zayna told staff she had been drugged and raped, and had symptoms including severe rectal pain, rectal bleeding and a sore throat.

After arriving at the police station, bodycam footage shows the officers switched off their cameras – this is standard practice if CCTV footage is available, but no footage of her arrival has been disclosed to Zayna

Zayna is seen in the back of a police van before her transfer to custody, right before officers turned off their bodycams

Despite reporting being raped, a physical examination was not carried out.

Multiple mental health professionals assessed her during her brief stay in hospital and notes show they found her ‘pleasant in mood’ and ‘polite, engaging and warm’.

Doctors added there was no evidence of her being ‘paranoid’ or ‘delusional’ – and that they believed she had been given a ‘date rape’ drug.

Psychiatrists noted: ‘Miss Iman does not have any prior history of mental disorder, she has been admitted with an acute psychotic episode which has resolved without treatment. It is highly likely that this is drug related – ‘date rape drug’ – which led to a sexual assault.’

The notes added: ‘Zayna believes she had been drugged and raped, the ward are of the opinion that this is not a delusional belief given her ongoing symptoms.’ 

Zayna stayed in hospital for five days before being discharged. By this time, she was still in pain from what had happened to her.

Recounting her condition after finally leaving custody, Zayna, who has waived her anonymity, said: ‘I’ve never felt physical pain like that in my life.’

Her distress is palpable as she fights back tears. ‘I was bleeding from both my [vagina and anus].

‘I remember touching in between my legs and my fingers were just covered in blood.’

For much of her hospital stay, notes show she was difficult to understand, with staff believing she was under the influence of drugs.

‘I was trying to tell everyone what had happened to me,’ Zayna says. ‘But I was slurring so much no one could understand me. They could only make out I was saying I’d been raped.’

After her release to hospital, doctors assessed Zayna and said there was no evidence of her being ‘paranoid’ or ‘delusional’ – and that they believed she had been given a ‘date rape’ drug before being sexually assaulted

At points following the missing footage, Zayna appeared to be speaking to people who weren’t there – whereas the first six hours showed her to be calm and sober

After being discharged, Zayna was left so traumatised that she moved out of Manchester. She then reported the alleged sexual assault to her local force, South Yorkshire Police, but due to the alleged rape occurring in Manchester, it was referred back to GMP.

Correspondence seen by MailOnline shows GMP told Zayna that all her cell footage had been reviewed, and no evidence to support her allegations of rape had been found.

But when Zayna asked for access to the footage she was informed in writing that several hours had become ‘corrupted’ on GMP’s computer system and were not recoverable. The original footage had already been deleted.

Soon after, she turned to her local MP Rebecca Long-Bailey, hoping she would be able to help ensure a thorough investigation was carried out.

District Superintendent Glenn Jones wrote back to Ms Long-Bailey and said: ‘In our opinion Zayna Iman has mental health issues.’ 

No evidence was given to support this, and medical notes seen by MailOnline state she had no record of any mental health issues when assessed.

The new evidence comes as Dame Vera Baird released a report into ‘degrading’ and ‘humiliating’ treatment of vulnerable women by the force

Zayna’s allegations were handed to Professional Standards, where they were handed to a male officer – who himself was accused of raping a woman in police custody in the 1980s. He was tasked with reviewing the footage of her time in custody.

The officer was never charged with any offence, and media reports show that the woman, who was a sex worker, was instead arrested and convicted over claims she had wasted police time. The woman who accused the officer killed herself in 2021.

When Zayna complained about his allocation, GMP said none of the officers involved in the decision knew about the historic allegations against the officer, and replaced him with a female investigator.

Zayna was also told all the custody footage had been reviewed by an investigating officer, but when she asked to see the footage herself, she was suddenly informed that two vital hours were had been ‘corrupted’ and were unrecoverable.

She then contacted the IOPC, who began examining the footage, and the body eventually informed her that the missing two hours of CCTV footage ‘were never downloaded’ from the central database.

A spokesperson added: ‘The IOPC investigation is now examining who was involved in the download of the footage from the server onto the disc to establish why the two hours were not downloaded.’

The IOPC also says it does not know why no audio is available on the footage provided by GMP. 

During its probe, GMP also falsely identified one of the officers involved in her arrest. 

Zayna was given the wrong name and badge number and assured multiple times by GMP they were correct. But when the IOPC got involved in her case, they discovered both were wrong and belonged to another officer who was not on duty during her detention.

The IOPC told her: ‘After we clarified with GMP that the name of the officer who attended your home address was PS [redacted], you have asked why GMP previously advised you it was PC [redacted]. 

‘This is something we are unable to answer.’

MailOnline asked GMP whether any officer had ever watched the missing two hours of footage, and whether it could rule out that Zayna was sexually assaulted while in custody. A spokesperson for GMP declined to comment on both matters. 

MP for Salford Rebecca Long-Bailey said: ‘I have previously raised my very serious concerns to Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Greater Manchester Police about historic reports of mistreatment in custody at Pendleton police station.

‘I welcomed promises that there would be a full and thorough investigation, but also stressed the urgent need for such investigations to be expanded further and to include wider practices and other reported incidents at the station, whether safeguards existed, whether they were followed, and missing chunks of time in CCTV footage. 

‘I also pressed for more safeguards to be put in place at every Greater Manchester police station and for all custody footage to be randomly reviewed as part of an ongoing audit process.

‘Whilst the recommendations of the Baird review will hopefully drive change in the future, those reporting historic mistreatment deserve urgent assurances that their cases are being independently investigated, rapidly, transparently, thoroughly, with due seriousness and that all possible information and CCTV footage will be located and shared with them. ‘

A GMP spokesperson said: ‘We understand the concerns raised by Ms Iman’s serious allegations which is why we referred this case to the IOPC last year for an independent and rigorous review.

‘We continue to fully co-operate with their ongoing investigation and await their findings.’

An IOPC spokesperson said: ‘Our investigation into a complaint made by a woman about the treatment she received while in police custody continues to progress.

‘The investigation began in August 2023 and relates to complaints made by the woman regarding the circumstances before and during her detention at Pendleton Police Station in February 2021.

‘A large amount of investigative work has been carried out and as part of our enquiries we have reviewed body worn footage, CCTV footage, police incident logs and phone calls made to the force before and after her detention.

‘We have obtained accounts from officers and staff who interacted with the complainant during her arrest and detention in custody and have conducted extensive searches in an attempt to retrieve the original CCTV footage. 

‘We have also employed an external digital forensic company to assist with the interrogation of any hard drives and USB’s located as part of the search. This has not been successful to date. Further investigative work is ongoing to establish how it went missing.

‘We continue to provide the complainant with monthly updates on the progress of our investigation.’