I won't stand for any racism, warns Met chief after claim of attack

The head of Scotland Yard told his force yesterday that he would not tolerate racism after damaging allegations that a policeman was caught on camera assaulting a black teenager hours after his colleague was recorded racially abusing a man.

Bernard Hogan-Howe warned that the episode in the aftermath of the riots in London could be very damaging for public confidence and ordered officers to report colleagues involved in wrongdoing.

The internal broadcast followed revelations that a police constable was on restricted duties after being seen allegedly kicking a 15-year-old black boy to the ground and then kneeing him while in the custody suite of an east London police station.

The officer was present hours earlier when his colleague, PC Alex MacFarlane, was recorded calling another man a "nigger" after he was arrested on suspicion of drug driving. The man, Mauro Demetrio, 21, recorded the abuse on his mobile telephone.

Mr Demetrio, from east London, said that he had been subjected to a tirade of abuse at the hands of the officer before he was taken to an east London police station.

There, he reportedly saw the alleged assault on the 15-year-old which was captured by CCTV footage on the same night, August 11, last year.

The case was referred within two weeks to the police watchdog which investigated the case and handed its report this week to the police for possible disciplinary action against the officer.

Criticism of the initial decision by the Crown Prosecution Service not to charge the officers has led to an urgent review. And Mr Hogan-Howe said yesterday: "I will not stand for any racism or racists in the Met."