UK police commander misled public over shooting-report
02 Aug 2007 15:58:00 GMT Source: Reuters
(Adds reaction) By Michael Holden LONDON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Britain's top counter-terrorism officer misled colleagues and the public about the fatal shooting of an innocent Brazilian who was mistaken for a suicide bomber, an independent police watchdog said on Thursday. Its report cleared the head of London's police, Ian Blair, of lying and said senior officers had failed to tell him on the day of the shooting that an innocent man had been shot. "I did not lie to the public," Blair told a news conference. Jean Charles De Menezes, 27, was shot in the head seven times by officers as he boarded an underground train in south London on July 22, 2005. Detectives from London's Metropolitan Police had mistaken him for Hussein Osman, one of four men convicted last month of trying to set off homemade bombs on the British capital's transport system the day before de Menezes was shot dead. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigated complaints by relatives of de Menezes that Blair had released false information about his death. The report found assistant commissioner Andy Hayman, Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer, had misled colleagues on the afternoon of the shooting by not telling them the dead man was innocent. This led to false information being released to the press and public, it said. The panel voiced "serious concern" over Hayman's actions and asked the authority overseeing London police to "consider what action they intend to take" over Hayman's conduct. The police authority said it would consider whether Hayman should face disciplinary action. Opposition Liberal Democrat lawmaker Simon Hughes told the BBC he believed Hayman could not remain in his job. WITHHELD INFORMATION The report said that on the afternoon of July 22, Hayman briefed crime reporters that the dead man was not one of the hunted would-be suicide bombers. He did not give the same information to senior police officers soon afterwards, it said. A police press release issued that evening said it was not known if the dead man was one of the suspects. Patricia Armani da Silva, a cousin of the dead man, told a news conference: "The police have been allowed to get away with murder. This is a huge injustice and very shameful." London police apologised for communications errors and said in a statement they had "significantly changed" the way they handled information during major operations. Blair was kept in the dark by senior officers, the report said. Even officers watching cricket on the day of the shooting knew a "terrible mistake" had been made, the panel was told. Blair has said he was unaware officers had shot the wrong man until 24 hours later, when he publicly apologised. A police statement said de Menezes's clothing and behaviour had been suspicious, information later shown to be untrue. Two weeks earlier, four young British Islamists had carried out the first suicide bombing in western Europe killing 52 commuters on three London underground trains and a bus. Last year prosecutors decided no individual officer should face criminal action over the De Menezes incident. Instead the London force as a whole will be prosecuted under health and safety laws.
