“I was naked in the cell for eight hours,” says Mark Dove, recounting his time in Greater Manchester Police custody – when he was detained for a crime he was never charged with.
“I had to warm myself with the hot water tap in the cell,” he told Sky News.
Mark says he heard police officers laughing.
When he asked for a blanket to keep warm, he said he was told he could get one when he behaved.
Mark raises his arms. “I don’t know what they mean by bad behavior,” he says. “What can you do naked in a cell for eight hours?”
Mark believes he was searched because he called a police officer racist and refused to answer his questions, after feeling he had been unfairly arrested.
It is one of several cases that have been analyzed in detail by an inquiry into the treatment of people in Greater Manchester Police (GMP) custody, which is due to be published on Thursday.
An independent inquiry – led by Dame Vera Baird, former victims’ commissioner – was launched following a Sky News investigation into how women were being inappropriately searched by officers. It was expanded to also examine the experiences of some men.
The findings are expected to make sobering reading for GMP, telling the stories of victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence who were imprisoned for minor offences, and their treatment at the hands of police officers behind cell doors.
Four women involved in the review I’ve already spoken to Sky Newsbut Mark is the first man to do so.
He believes he was chased by the police.
Mark tells us he was unnecessarily searched three times and illegally arrested – once at his home in the early hours of the morning when police broke down his door with a battering ram in front of his girlfriend and daughter.
Footage filmed by his doorbell camera shows officers refusing to say why they went to his home at 5:40am unless he answered the door.
When he refuses, they begin to destroy him.
Mark’s case is being examined as part of the Baird inquiry
Left naked for eight hours – Mark’s first magazine
His story began 18 months earlier, when, in July 2022, he was arrested following a family dispute.
Bodycam police video he later obtained showed the officer saying he was being arrested for “threats to cause criminal harm.”
But when he heard someone shouting threats to kill him, he asked why that person wasn’t being arrested.
The officer responded, “I told him to wrap his neck. Did he directly threaten you?
“He threatened the police van as far as I’m concerned.
“Shut up and listen to me.”
Mark, who was the only black person at the scene, accused the police officer of being racist.
At the police station, Mark asked to file a complaint, but the officer behind the counter claimed he didn’t know how to do that.
Mark refused to answer the arresting officer’s questions. He explains: “He then starts to walk away and tells me I’m fucking messing with him.
“The next thing I was taken to a cell where I was searched.”
Initially he wore anti-tear clothing – but later he said the police told him he had torn them, so they took them off him.
Mark says: “They take everything out of the cell, absolutely everything and leave me there naked for eight hours.
“It was very cold in the cell. So I was asking for blankets. They didn’t give me any.
“So I had to use the tap, which runs hot water, basically to keep warm.
“It was humiliating. Degrading. Because every time I pressed the button to ask them something, you could hear them laughing through the microphones. They told me that when I behave, I can get a blanket.”
Mark became part of the Baird inquiry after seeing the original Sky News report on police cops’ questionable research on YouTube.
At this stage he was searched twice.
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‘The police were laughing at me’ – Mark’s second magazine
The second time, he was arrested on similar charges made by a relative in February 2023.
A GMP tactical aid unit, which usually consists of eight people, entered Mark’s small front garden and arrested him for threatening behaviour.
The group of police officers did not provide further details and said they attended because they had “a bit of inactivity” and “a piece of paper with your name on it”.
When he arrived at the police station, he was undressed, but this time he refused to put on the tear-resistant clothing.
He says he was protesting the lack of food and their refusal to give him the anxiolytic he took every morning.
While he was still naked, a female officer came to his cell and led him naked through the custody room for an interview.
Sky News saw footage of him being led down the hallway.
Mark remembers that as they approached the booking desk, he saw a group of people in suits who he assumed were lawyers.
“I was humiliated,” he says. “There were even prisoners sitting on benches while I was completely naked – no socks, nothing.
“The staff were laughing at me, the sergeants at the booking desk, so I shouted at them to stop laughing.”
Shortly afterwards, Mark was returned to his cell without being interviewed.
He was later released without charges.
Read more on Sky News:
Family forgives driver who let 7-year-old boy die while he avoided arrest
17-year-old boy dies in institution for young offenders
Dragged his house at dawn – Mark’s third magazine
The early morning arrest, where his front door was broken down, happened a few months later, in November 2023.
Mark was dragged out of his house, as his partner and daughter screamed, and he was thrown into the rubbish area where police handcuffed him.
When Mark’s girlfriend of 20 years asked, “What did he do?” The officer said, “It’s none of his business.”
At no point was anyone told why he was being forcibly removed from his home in the early hours of the morning.
It later emerged that a text Mark allegedly sent to a relative was described as malicious communication – but again would not draw charges.
Once again, Mark was searched.
In November 2023, Mark was dragged out of his home in the early hours of the morning.
The Baird inquiry will examine whether they were justified in breaking down his door and arresting him in front of his partner and daughter.
And why in three arrests he was stripped naked – and later released without charge.
It will look at whether the police are abusing their powers and whether there are wider problems with officers’ behavior and attitudes.
Although Mark and many other participants in the inquiry have complained about police behavior, the inquiry will explore why there never seems to be a satisfactory outcome that holds officers accountable for their actions.
Young mother tells how she was stripped and humiliated
‘Weak standards fall far below what the public expects’
Greater Manchester Police said: “We have been fully involved with the Dame Vera inquiry since it was commissioned by the Mayor last year following the serious questions raised about the treatment of people in our custody.
“We know there are examples in the report that reflect poor standards and practices that fall far below what the public expects of us.
“We await the publication of Dame Vera’s report, where we will respond fully to her findings and implement any recommendations.
“An investigation into Mr. Dove’s allegations by our Professional Standards Board is ongoing.”
GMP said an investigation into Mark’s allegations by its Professional Standards Directorate was ongoing
A press conference will be held at 11.30am on Thursday when the inquiry’s findings are published, with Mayor Andy Burnham, inquiry author Dame Vera Baird and GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
