A BLACK man who was wrongfully stopped, searched and handcuffed in his own garden has been awarded £10,000 in damages by the Metropolitan Police. 

Navern De La Kruz was opening the gate of his home in south London to a friend in June 2020 when he was handcuffed and detained for the purpose of a stop and search by officers who said that he matched the description of a knife-crime suspect. 

Lawyers for Mr De La Kruz said police had used powers to search him that are inapplicable to a private dwelling. 

The 31-year-old hit out at the Met for refusing to offer an apology two years on.  

“I felt so belittled to be stopped, searched and handcuffed in my garden for something I had nothing to do with,” he said. 

Mr De La Kruz added that he hoped lessons regarding the misuse of stop and search would be learnt from his case. 

His solicitor, Sohini Mehta of Bhatt Murphy, described the incident as “yet another example of the heavy-handed use of stop and search and handcuffing on black people without adequate justification.”

The Met was approached for comment.