Leading British sprinter Bianca Williams and her partner, Portuguese 400m record holder Ricardo dos Santos, have opened discussions with lawyers about taking action against police after they were forcibly removed from their car and handcuffed in front of their three-month-old son.

Williams, the fifth-fastest British woman in history over 200m, has accused police officers of racially profiling her and Dos Santos in a stop and search in west London on Saturday afternoon because they are black and drive a Mercedes.

Scotland Yard said in a statement that its officers had been patrolling in the area “in response to an increase in youth violence involving weapons” and had stopped a car that had “made off at speed from the officers, travelling the wrong side of the road”. It added that it was satisfied there were no misconduct issues.

However, Williams and Dos Santos, who are both coached by former Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie, contest that version of events.

Get the latest headlines: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2020/07/06/british-sprinterbianca-williams-speaks-lawyers-accusing-police/?WT.mc_id=tmg_youtube_offsite_televideo&utm_source=tmgoff&utm_medium=tmg_youtube&utm_content=offsite_televideo&utm_campaign=tmg_youtube_offsite_televideo

Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.