“The church workers told the police he was a volunteer. They uncuffed him and left, without even an apology,” Santos said. “I just think it is harsh the way they dealt with it. There was no reason for him to be cuffed at 14 years old. What would you expect a young boy to be doing inside a church on a Sunday morning.”

“I prepare my son and tell him that with our skin colour, unfortunately we are labelled. I tell him that people will react in different ways and some people will be nice to him, but others will not be so nice” Santos added.

Santos also said Silva was left “embarrassed and distressed” by the incident. “He’s a normal boy, he plays football five days a week, once a week he rides his bike with his friends. But he is not out on the streets, he knows to keep away from boys that smoke and drink.”

West Mercia Police claim they stopped the teen because there had been reports of drug dealing in the area.

Police official David Troth said, “Police were patrolling on St Paul’s Street in Worcester on Sunday morning when they saw a member of the public acting suspiciously.Officers approached the individual to begin a stop and search due to both their behaviour and concerns about drug dealing in the local area.”

“Shortly afterwards, officers were made aware the individual had legitimate reason for being in the area and determined that no offences had taken place and grounds to continue with any subsequent search no longer existed. As such, the search was not conducted” Troth added.