A WOMAN who says she was subjected to racist abuse in the Borders has been told that the investigation has been completed.

Legal consultant Angela Bennett said she was informed by Police Scotland that the alleged culprits could not be traced.

She said she provided officers with photographs of the group, along with a registration number of a vehicle they had fled the scene in.

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Ms Bennett said she expected the details of the vehicle to be circulated to other officers in Hawick on the day of the reported incident back in February.

But instead an appointment was made for her to make a statement the following week.

The Border Telegraph asked Police Scotland why the photograph had not been released. After eight days, the force refused to comment on what lines of enquiry had been explored as part of the investigation.

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A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Every complaint is professionally and thoroughly investigated and we treat people who bravely come forward with sensitivity, respect and dignity. We would appeal to anyone with any further information to contact us on 101.”

Ms Bennett said the incident took place shortly after 7am on Saturday, February 4, as she was about to board a bus in Mart Street, Hawick.

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She said she was approached by three teenagers, two male and one female, who subjected her to a barrage of horrific abuse. One youth also told her she was a “dead person walking”, according to Ms Bennett.

The driver refused to allow the group to board the bus and he was also verbally abused, she added.

Ms Bennett dialled 999 but the teenagers left the scene before police arrived.

In response to Police Scotland's statement, she refuted that she had been treated her with 'dignity and respect'.

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She said: “This shows that Police Scotland is deeply entrenched in racism and this is confirmed by the Chief Constable, Sir Iain Livingstone, who has publicly condemned Police Scotland as institutionally racist and discriminatory.

“The police service lacks the finer feelings of understanding of what women of the Black community face daily, and even after 500 years we are still here suffering with indignity, inequality, marginalisation, exclusion, and iniquity.

“If you are white you are more likely than not to have your complaints about crime dealt with informatively, comprehensively, with dignity, respectfully, legally, and fairly."

She said that releasing the image she provided would "jog a person’s memory" if they knew something about the alleged incident.

“Not to release the photograph suggests that police in the Borders have a vendetta against me and I believe that I am suffering from the ethnic penalty,” she added.

Ms Bennett’s comments were passed to Police Scotland but the force refused to expand on their statement.

Back in May – in what is believed to be the first of its kind by a police chief – Sir Iain admitted that Police Scotland was institutionally racist and discriminatory.

He said that acknowledging the issues exist was essential for real change to happen.

But he stressed that his admission did not mean that individual officers and staff were racist or sexist.