Met chief tried to block shooting inquiry

Vikram Dodd Saturday October 1, 2005 - Guardian

Sir Ian Blair personally ordered that independent investigators be denied access to the scene where an innocent man had been shot dead by police after being mistaken for a suicide bomber, it emerged yesterday.

The commissioner of the Metropolitan police wrote to the Home Office to block an independent investigation into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station on July 22. By law the Independent Police Complaints Commission should have been called in by the Met to investigate the case.

Yesterday, Sir Ian's letter to the top civil servant at the Home Office, Sir John Gieve, was made public after a freedom of information request. It reveals Sir Ian's orders to deny IPCC investigators physical access to the cordoned-off tube station and that he had asked the Home Office for support in the decision. Sir Ian said his letter was a request for "guidance" when he testified to MPs about the row this month.

The family of Mr de Menezes yesterday said the newly released letter exposed another attempt by Scotland Yard to mislead them and the public.

The letter was written within two hours of the 27-year-old Brazilian's shooting, which came a day after failed bomb attacks on three tube trains and a bus.

Scotland Yard says the letter was written when Sir Ian believed the shot man was a terrorist, and he writes: "There is much concern about revealing either the tactics that we have and/or the sources of information on which we are operating."

The commissioner writes that he should be able to suspend the law requiring police to give the IPCC any information the commission requests while investigating a death resulting from an anti-terrorist operation.

Britain's top officer says he is worried about what he terms the IPCC's duty "to provide as much information as it can" to the victim's family, saying: "This could put further lives at risk."

In the letter, Sir Ian then announces his decisions: "I have therefore given instructions that the shooting that has just occurred at Stockwell is not to be referred to the IPCC and that they will be given no access to the scene at the present time."

He says the Met will investigate the shooting itself and adds: "I ask for your support for this measure, which may form the basis for amending legislation in the future."

Also released yesterday was the Home Office reply from Sir John Gieve which rebuffed Sir Ian, saying the law which mandated the IPCC investigate fatal shootings could not be suspended. Sir John suggests a meeting between Sir Ian, himself and the head of the IPCC to settle the stand-off.

Eventually the IPCC was able to take control of the inquiry into the shooting, which is being conducted by staff independent of the police. Before the home affairs select committee on September 13, Sir Ian, asked why he had opposed the IPCC, said he believed the terrorist manhunt should have priority. - guardian.co.uk

Yard officer admits 'shoot to kill' error

By Jenny Booth and agencies October 27, 2005 - Scotland Yard's so-called "shoot to kill to protect" tactic to deal with suicide bombers should have been disclosed to the public much earlier, a senior officer said today. Assistant Commissioner Stephen House was outlining changes to the force's anti-terror strategy at a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), which oversees the work of the Met.

The tactic involves police marksmen shooting a suspected suicide bomber in the head with no warning to stop them from detonating their device. It was developed as part of Operation Kratos, the Yard's strategy to counter suicide terrorists.

The public became fully aware of the tactic's existence only after it was controversially put into practice on July 22 at Stockwell tube station, when armed police officers shot Jean Charles de Menezes seven times in the head. The 27-year-old Brazilian electrician was afterwards found to have no connection with terrorism.

The tactic has been heavily criticised by the de Menezes family, and as a result was being debated at today's MPA meeting. Mr House told the authority that the British public should have been told much earlier, as Kratos was being developed.

"I take on board the criticism that this should have been public knowledge beforehand," said Mr House, who has been overseeing an inquiry to learn the lessons from the disastrous Stockwell operation. "There is no criticism of anyone involved in the development of Operation Kratos. But now that it has been called into action as a result of the developments, the public must be aware of what's going on."

Earlier, Sir Ian Blair, the Met Commissioner, reminded the meeting that Kratos was developed in response to a new and unprecedented threat, from "circumstances that had never before occurred in the western world, with failed suicide bombers on the loose".

Mr House said that as a result of the shooting of Mr de Menezes, a number of changes had been made. "We have now moved the responsibility for Operation Kratos from the specialist operations under Andy Hayman, to central operations under myself," he told the authority. "The sole reason is to allow it to be more openly available. Specialist and anti-terror operations are necessarily surrounded by a certain secrecy."

Three new tactics had been developed for use in combating suicide terror threats, code-named Andromeda, Beach and Clydesdale, he said. "These tactics were not in use in July, they have been developed as a result of that."

The vocabulary used by officers commanding different sections of the anti-terror response had been standardised, so that everyone knew what the others were talking about, he said. Staff had been trained in the new tactics and vocabulary.

The Met says that its tactic does not amount to a "shoot to kill" policy, and that it is consistent with laws governing the use of "reasonable force". Sir Ian has previously described it as the "least worst option" for dealing with suicide bombers. Today's report says: "It is essential that the Metropolitan Police have tactics available for the defence and protection of officers and the public in proximity to the threat.

"This is not a 'shoot to kill' policy. The tactics are wholly consistent with Section 3 Criminal Law Act, which says 'A person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in the effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders or of persons unlawfully at large'.

"This is well articulated in the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) Manual of Guidance on Police Use of Firearms.

"It should be noted that there is no legal requirement for an officer to give a verbal challenge before firing and the Acpo Police Use of Firearms manual acknowledges that there are occasions when it is not appropriate or practical to do so."

The death of Mr de Menezes is the subject of an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Despite the tragedy, opinion polls have shown that most people are in favour of the use of deadly force against suicide bombers.

This week Mr House said the "shoot to the head" tactic could be used in other "extreme" scenarios where someone was on the brink of being murdered. He said it could potentially be used in a kidnapping or stalking case where the victim had a gun pointed at their heads and the suspect was threatening to kill.

The July 7 bombings in London, which killed 52 innocent people, were the first ever suicide attacks on British soil. Since the second wave of attempted bomb attacks which failed on July 21, the Yard estimates it has had more than 1,000 reports from the public of suspected suicide bombers. Armed response officers were sent out six times and the Kratos operations team alerted 11 times.

All the incidents were resolved safely. [er...excuse me?]

- Times

Police used 'dum dum' bullets to kill de Menezes

By John Steele (Filed: 16/11/2005)

The Brazilian man shot dead by police in the mistaken belief that he was a suicide bomber was killed with a type of bullet banned in warfare under international convention, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

The firing of hollow point ammunition into the head of Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, is believed to be the first use of the bullets by British police.

It will re-ignite controversy around the shooting, at Stockwell Underground station, south London, on July 22.

Modern hollow point bullets are descendants of the expanding "dum dum" ammunition created by the British in an arsenal of the same name near Calcutta, in India, at the end of the 19th century and outlawed under the Hague Declaration of 1899.

The bullets, which expand and splinter on impact, were available to officers taking part in Operation Kratos, the national police drive against suspected suicide bombers which has been described as a "shoot to kill" policy.

Their issue was sanctioned after research suggested that they were an effective close-quarters ammunition for use against someone about to trigger a suicide bomb.

It is believed the decision was influenced by the tactics used by air marshals on passenger jets - where such bullets are designed to splinter in the body and not burst the fuselage. They have been assessed as posing less risk to people around the suicide bomber than conventional bullets but the effect on victims is devastating.

Like the overall Kratos policy, the decision to make dum dum-style bullets available was taken in secret. However, it is understood that the Home Office became aware three years ago that police were considering their use.

Negotiations on possible national guidance are understood to have been inconclusive and the choice of ammunition appears to be at the discretion of police chiefs, not the Home Secretary.

There is no legal prohibition on police use of such ammunition. The Home Office confirmed last night that "chief officers may use whatever ammunition they consider appropriate to meet their operational needs".

It is understood from security sources that hollow point bullets are still available as an option to police firearms teams in Kratos-type cases.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the shooting during which seven bullets were fired into Mr de Menezes's head and one into his shoulder.

A number of officers, including members of the firearms and surveillance teams and the Scotland Yard commander who ran the operation, Cressida Dick, have been issued with notices that they are subject to inquiries by the IPCC. - telegraph.co.uk

De Menezes tube shooting 'a mix up'

Scotsman / NICHOLAS CHRISTIAN | January 15 2006

AN INVESTIGATION into the fatal shooting of a Brazilian mistaken by London police for a suicide bomber will conclude that a communications mix up was partly to blame for his death, according to reports last night.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission inquiry into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes focused much of its criticism on undercover officers who kept him under surveillance last July 22.

Undercover officers shot the Brazilian electrician dead on an Underground train a day after four men attempted to bomb London's transport system and two weeks after a suicide attack on the system killed 52 commuters and four bombers. De Menezes, 27, was shot eight times - seven times in the head - after police followed him from an apartment that had been under surveillance.

A Sunday newspaper, citing unidentified sources, said surveillance officers following de Menezes sent a message to armed colleagues at the subway station that "this is the man". They meant he was the man they were following, but firearms officers understood it to mean he was a suicide bomber, the paper said.

The report is also understood to criticise surveillance officers for not realising that de Menezes, who wore a denim jacket when he was killed, was not dressed like a suicide bomber. The commission is due to hand its report over to the Crown Prosecution Service in the next few weeks. Prosecutors will then decide whether anyone should be charged. Police have called the shooting a tragedy and apologised, but de Menezes' family and supporters have called for charges to be filed. - scotsman

Tube shooting: police officers cleared by internal Met inquiry

Scotsman / ANGUS HOWARTH | January 15 2006

AN INTERNAL review by the Metropolitan Police has found two officers followed correct procedures when they shot dead the Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes at a Tube station, it emerged yesterday.

The officers adhered to controversial shoot-to-kill guidelines on dealing with suspected suicide bombers.

The findings will raise expectations that an official Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) inquiry will focus on intelligence failures which led up to the shooting - not on the split-second decision made by the officers, on 22 July.

The IPCC is on the verge of handing its own file on the shooting to the Crown Prosecution Service. The Met findings, which were reported yesterday, emerged from an internal review of Operation Kratos, the strategy for dealing with suspected suicide bombers.

Yesterday Assistant Commissioner Steve House, of the Met's central operations, said it had not conducted an inquiry into the shooting at Stockwell station and the review "is confined to policy issues".

Operation Kratos allows commanders to authorise firearms officers to stop a suspect they believe is a would-be bomber by shooting him or her in the head.

Senior officers concluded that the officers acted in accordance with Kratos guidelines. The officers were told they were following one of the suicide bombers on the run after foiled attacks in London and believed he was about to detonate a device.

Senior police insist the shooting was a tragic case of mistaken identity caused by a series of factors that led them to believe Mr de Menezes was one of the alleged 21 July bombers.

The confusion began during a stake-out of a flat in Tulse Hill, an address found on a piece of paper in one of the failed bombers' backpacks.

An army surveillance officer on secondment to the Met was relieving himself when Mr de Menezes walked out. Without surveillance camera images of the suspect enabling confirmation of his identity, he passed on the message that it was worth "someone else having a look".

Mr de Menezes caught a bus but at one point got off and then boarded again a few moments later. He went to the top deck and then returned downstairs, which aroused suspicions in the following surveillance officers.

The IPCC is expected to complete its official report next week. A file will then be handed to the CPS which is expected to spend several months considering whether charges should be brought against ten officers ranging from the rank of constable to commander.

Mr de Menezes' cousin, Alex Pereira, yesterday said he was confident all officers involved would be "brought to justice". - scotsman

Menezes vigil held at Stockwell

22/01/2006 - Flowers have been laid by relatives of Jean Charles de Menezes at the tube station where he was shot seven times in the head by police.

On the six-month anniversary of the Brazilian man's death, friends and family visited Stockwell station to hold a minute's silence.

Mr de Menezes' three cousins Alex Pereira, Vivian de Figueiredo and Patricia da Silva Armani all laid flowers.

Family spokesman Asad Rehman said: "Six months ago Jean, a young man, was on his way to work when he died in such horrific circumstances, gunned down in this Tube station.

"Today is very much about marking and commemorating his death but also affirming their desire and commitment to seek justice and make sure that Jean will not be forgotten and there will be no cover-up and we will get to the truth."

He said that Mr de Menezes' family felt they had been "kept in the dark" about the recent Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report into his death.

The 27-year-old electrician was killed on July 22nd by undercover police officers that had mistaken him for a suicide bomber. His death came one day after the failed bombings in London.

Investigators submitted their report, which contains 600 statements and 30 witnesses' accounts, to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on Thursday.

Mr Menezes' family said they "cannot forgive", and are pushing for senior officers to be charged. - dehavilland.co.uk

ITN journalist arrested over Stockwell shooting case

25/1/2006 - AN ITN journalist has been arrested over a story the station broadcast about the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes.

ITV are standing by their story revealing that the innocent Brazilian was held down by armed police at Stockwell underground station while bullets were pumped into his head. The reporter has been arrested on suspicion of theft by detectives investigating the leaking of statements from the official inquiry.

The arrest comes as police anxiously await the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over whether any police officers should face criminal charges following the fatal shooting on 22nd July last year. The CPS decision is expected in September this year, 14 months after Mr de Menezes death. Up to ten officers could potentially face charges.

Responding to the journalists' arrest, ITV News's editor in chief David Mannion, said: 'We absolutely stand by the story, the way we covered it and the way we got the story; it was to our usual high editorial standards.'

It is understood the journalist - a news producer - saw documents which were part of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC)investigation. It emerged today that the journalist was arrested in October at his home as part of an investigation Leicestershire police are carrying out intp the leak.

A 43-year-old IPCC employee was also arrested and has now resigned from the commission. Leicestershire police said that a 30-year-old woman was also arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to steal. All three people who have been arrested remain on police bail.

The IPCC were heavily critical of the actions of Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair in the aftermath of the shooting for refusing to allow IPCC staff access to the scene at Stockwell shooting. Sir Ian failed to persuade the Metropolitan Police Authority to ban the IPCC from investigating the death. - blink.org

Brazilian shooting 'cover-up'

29/01/2006 - Police officers may have tried to change a mistake in the report on the Jean Charles de Menezes shooting, it has been claimed.

According to an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report allegedly seen by the News of the World, officers changed their log of events made on July 22nd. Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot in the head several times by undercover police officers while boarding a train at Stockwell tube station on his way to work.

The surveillance log, which was made on the day of the shooting, noted what the undercover police team had been saying on the radio messages earlier in the day. The Special Branch surveillance team had been trying to track down suspected suicide bomber Hussein Osman. The newspaper says that according to the IPCC report, the log had read "it was Osman", in relation to the sighting of Mr de Menezes. This apparent positive identification led police to the fatal events that followed.

But 10 hours after the shooting, it is alleged that this phrase was changed to "and it was not Osman". The alleged concealment of the facts meant that senior police commanders and armed officers would have been blamed, according to the newspaper. The IPCC report is currently being looked at by the Crown Prosecution Service. - dehavilland.co.uk

New terror intelligence gap claims

Last Modified: 29 Jan 2006 Source: ITN

MI5 has admitted there are "significant gaps" in its knowledge about the London terror attacks, according to an intelligence report leaked to a newspaper.

Intelligence chiefs have conceded they know little about the planning of the attack or whether al Qaeda was involved.

In a report for Tony Blair and senior ministers - leaked to The Sunday Times - MI5 says: "We know little about what three of the bombers did in Pakistan, when attack planning began, how and when the attackers were recruited, the extent of any external direction or assistance and the extent and role of any wider network."

The report by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), says MI5 still does not know if al Qaeda was behind the July 7 and July 21 atrocities.

The report says there is still no intelligence to link the two plots.

It adds: "Whilst investigations are progressing, there remain significant gaps in our knowledge."

The report was delivered in October. But sources have reportedly said the situation has changed little since then.

Downing Street declined to comment on the report. - channel4 News

Greece 5,432 immigrants questioned in massive security sweep in July-August 2005 at request of MI6

- 28 Pakistani men abducted, held in secret houses, questioned and subjected to violence

George Voulgarakis, the Public Order Minister, told the Greek parliament's Committee on Public Order and Justice earlier this month that:

"The British sent a very long list of individuals seen as being involved in the 7 July attacks"

As a result, in July and August 2005, 5,432 immigrants were "questioned", 2,172 immigrants were "probed", 1,221 were arrested for "other reasons" (other presumably than terrorism) and six of these were deported. The massive sweep across Greece was carried out by over 1,000 law enforcement units including state security, immigration and counter-terrorism officers.

The evidence presented to the Committee by the Minister was that MI6 (the UK's external intelligence agency or Secret Intelligence Service, SIS) had sent a request to Athens about a specific Al-Qaeda operative with a Greek mobile number (a number which had too many digits and might have been a "cryptographic" code, or simply wrong). A number of other Greek mobile numbers supposedly linked to the suicide bombers of 7 July 2005 were also provided.

28 Pakistani men abducted, held in secret houses, questioned and subjected to violence - statewatch

Policemen face criminal charges over Brazilian's shooting

London, Feb 19: British police officers, involved in the killing of an innocent Brazilian in an anti-terrorist operation here in July last, are facing criminal charges over allegations that they tampered with evidence after the shooting incident.

The officials, who oversaw the anti-terrorist operation, will be charged by Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) officials with attempting to pervert the course of justice by disguising the fact that they had mistaken 27-year-old Jean Charles De Menezes for a terrorism suspect, the 'independent' reported today.

The disclosure comes three weeks after reports that undercover police deliberately attempted to blame firearms officers for the shooting.

Police surveillance officers allegedly tried to disguise the fact that they had mistaken De Menezes for Hussain Osman, the alleged terrorist being hunted for a failed suicide bombing on the tube.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is planning action over the allegations that special branch officers took part in the cover-up, in which words clearing them of any wrong-doing were written into the police log.

Senior legal sources say that officers who were allegedly involved in altering the log, which detailed the last movements of De Menezes, face charges of obstructing public justice or conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

"This was a deliberate and obvious attempt to smear the firearms officers and there is a great deal of anxiety about it at the MET (Metropolitan Police)," prosecution sources were quoted as saying.

De Menezes' family has already called for a public inquiry into the killing. Bureau Report

Met suppress files that tell full shooting story

David Leppard - March 9th 2006 -

Police hold back dossier that could reveal Sir Ian Blair's role after Tube killing fiasco

THE Metropolitan police have blocked attempts by independent investigators to obtain sensitive files about the role that Sir Ian Blair, the commissioner, played after the shooting of an innocent Brazilian man on the London Underground.

Well-placed sources say the Met has declined repeated requests by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to disclose hundreds of pages of internal papers. The documents give the Met's private assessment of the botched counter-terrorist operation that led to Jean Charles de Menezes mistakenly being killed by Yard marksmen at Stockwell Underground station last July.

The IPCC wants the Yard files handed over before it reviews Blair's response to claims by the de Menezes family that he made false or misleading statements after the shooting.

The fresh legal tussle has reignited claims by the de Menezes family that the Yard is attempting to cover up its true culpability for the shooting.

This weekend Harriet Wistrich, the family's solicitor, said: "Every time the police attempt to resist providing information in relation to the shooting it creates the impression they have something to hide. If they've nothing to hide, why not come forward with it?"

The papers include discussions about how much compensation the Met thinks it should pay to the de Menezes family; the risk that individual officers might face murder or manslaughter charges; the vulnerability of Blair and the Met to an action for civil damages; and whether Special Branch officers altered surveillance logs to cover up the mistaken identification.

De Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician, was shot eight times by two Scotland Yard marksmen on a train at Stockwell. The shooting happened on July 22, the day after four suspected Islamist suicide bombers tried to detonate bombs on three Tube trains and a bus. At the inquest into de Menezes's death 10 days ago, John Cummins, the senior IPCC investigator, said publicly he had experienced no obstruction from the Met in his inquiry.

But behind the scenes, the IPCC has pressed for the Met files at two meetings in the past three weeks. The commission has told Blair it is entitled to them under section 17 of the 2002 Police Reform Act, which gives it the power to demand "all such information and documents" it judges necessary to conduct its inquiries.

The Met has declined to surrender the files. Scotland Yard bosses insist the papers are "legally privileged" and they are under no legal obligation to disclose them. One senior source said the discussions had been "cordial" and did not amount to a dispute. He said: "Quite properly, if you are under suspicion and you take legal advice you expect those conversations to be privileged.

"But the IPCC thinks section 17 trumps everything. They think they are entitled to everything they want. We're saying as a point of principle here, no, they are not."

Behind the scenes, the tension between the Met and the IPCC has been simmering since the day of the shooting. Part of the IPCC's own file on the killing of de Menezes, showing police blunders, was leaked last September.

The file showed how an undercover officer who was supposed to be watching for a suspected terrorist to emerge from a house in Tulse Hill, south London, was relieving himself at the time de Menezes appeared.The disclosures infuriated Blair and led to renewed calls for his resignation. The Crown Prosecution Service has said it hopes to decide by Easter whether any officers will be charged with murder or manslaughter. Last December the IPCC began a second inquiry after the de Menezes family complained that Blair had misled the public over the shooting. Senior Yard insiders fear this new inquiry could potentially force Blair to resign.

It is focusing on comments Blair made at a press conference a few hours after the shooting at which he said: "I understand the man was challenged and refused to obey." That statement turned out to be false. In a separate statement, cleared by at least three senior officers, the Yard's press bureau said of de Menezes that "his clothing and his behaviour at the station added to suspicions".

The Met now accepts that there was nothing suspicious about his clothes or behaviour. A spokeswoman for the IPCC said: "Our investigation is progressing and we are working with the Metropolitan police to ensure we have access to all the necessary material."

Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president, is expected to raise the case when he visits Britain this week. - times

Scotland Yard 'sex smear' on De Menezes

Saturday, March 11th, 2006

Scotland Yard was at the centre of a new row over the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes following allegations that he was the suspect in a rape case. It has emerged that the 27-year-old electrician, gunned down by armed officers at Stockwell Tube station, is being linked with a sex attack in London.

Officers have contacted lawyers acting for the dead man's family to ask for permission to examine DNA samples taken after his death. These are understood to be held by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which has been investigating the shooting and has also been contacted by the Metropolitan Police.

The inquiry is in response to a call, more than six months after the Brazilian's death, from a rape victim who named Mr de Menezes as her attacker.

Sources close to his family have reacted with fury to the allegations. They accuse the Metropolitan police of deliberately leaking the details of the rape inquiry in an attempt to deflect attention from the investigation into the shooting of Mr de Menezes, who was mistaken for a terrorist by armed officers. His relatives are already pursuing a complaint against Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police who, they allege, misled the public in the wake of the shooting. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is also considering whether to bring charges against the officers involved in the death of Mr de Menezes.

A source told The Independent on Sunday: "This is a deliberate attempt to deflect the blame. First [the police] tried to say he was a terrorist and now this… he is no longer here to defend himself."

Last night, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that inquiries were continuing into the alleged rape, which happened in the West End of London. The Met said in a statement: "The victim of a rape in the West End more than three years ago contacted us earlier this year and provided the name of a suspect. The name was given as that of Jean Charles de Menezes… and inquiries are continuing."

Mr de Menezes was shot dead by armed officers on 22 July, the day after the failed copycat bombings on the London Underground. Eyewitness accounts of the shooting initially suggested that the Brazilian electrician was a suicide bomber - an impression the police did not try to alter. Surveillance officers searching for Hussein Osman, who was allegedly involved in the failed bombings, had been staking out the flats in Tulse Hill from which Mr de Menezes emerged.

The Independent on Sunday last month revealed that the IPCC report alleges police tried to fake evidence relating to the killing by altering the police log. According to the report an officer outside the flats wrongly identified Mr de Menezesas Osman and firearms officers were dispatched to stop him. Once it was known an innocent man had been killed, the log was altered so that instead of reading "it was Osman", it read "it was not Osman". - independent.co.uk

Met chief in phone recording row

Britain's top policeman is being urged to explain why he secretly taped a phone call with the attorney general. Metropolitan police chief Sir Ian Blair recorded the conversation with Lord Goldsmith last September without him knowing, it has emerged. Lord Goldsmith is said to be "rather cross" and "somewhat disappointed".

Richard Barnes, a Conservative member of the Metropolitan Police Authority and the London Assembly, called for Sir Ian to consider his position. "He must clearly discuss this with the chairman of the police authority, and no doubt the home secretary will want to talk to him," he said. "But I think he has got to a stage where he must consider his own position. The reputation of the Metropolitan Police really must be paramount and that is what we must protect."

Mr Barnes told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was "utterly surprised and shocked" by Sir Ian's actions.

Even before Sir Ian's secret taping of the attorney general emerged, the Home Office had reportedly told him to stay out of the limelight - or risk losing Downing Street's support.

But the Home Office Minister, Hazel Blears, has denied she gave him "any instructions, or indeed advice, in those terms". "That would be entirely inappropriate for me to do that. "This is a very serious issue," Ms Blears added. "Obviously the matter will be taken seriously by the Metropolitan Police Authority."

The director of civil rights group Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, called for Sir Ian's resignation and branded his actions "bizarre". She said: "His behaviour appears to be unconstitutional, unethical, quite possibly unlawful. "This is covert surveillance. It is very hard for any of us to have trust in him as the senior law enforcer... in this country. "He has some serious explaining to do," she said.

The call to the attorney general - the chief legal adviser to the government - was about the admissibility of wire tap evidence in court, but it did not concern a particular case. Sir Ian, who is thought to be on holiday, has been criticised previously for his handling of the aftermath of the shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes by anti-terror police at Stockwell Tube station last July. Remarks he made about the Soham murders also generated a furore in the media. Sir Ian has also admitted taping calls with senior officials from the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Surprise at recording

An IPCC spokesman said the taped conversations came to light as part of its inquiry into the aftermath of the shooting.

"We understand three telephone conversations between senior IPCC personnel and the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police have been recorded without our prior consent," said the spokesman. "One of these conversations was between our chair Nick Hardwick and the commissioner. "We are surprised about the recording of calls and now have the recordings. We are dealing with this issue."

Consent issue

The spokesman added that no formal investigation into the allegations was taking place. The recording and monitoring of telephone calls is governed by a number of different pieces of UK legislation, according to Ofcom, the telephone industry regulator.

It is not illegal for individuals to tape conversations providing the recording is for their own use, under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA).

It is a civil, not criminal, matter if a conversation or e-mail has been recorded and shared unlawfully. If a person intends to make the conversation available to a third party, they must first obtain the consent of the person being recorded. - BBC

Met chief faces new Menezes query

Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair is facing new questions over when he knew an innocent man had been shot dead on the London Underground last year. He has always said he did not know that Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes had been killed until the following day.

But the BBC has learnt of a claim that a close aide of Sir Ian believed just six hours after the shooting that the wrong man had been shot. Mr Menezes was shot at Stockwell after being mistaken for a terror suspect. Sir Ian is already being investigated over whether police misled the public in any way after the shooting. He is also under pressure after having to apologise this week for taping a phone call with the attorney general and taping senior officials from the Independent Police Complaints Commission without their consent.

'Leadership questions'

Sir Ian maintained that he did not know the wrong man had been shot for 24 hours. On the day of the shooting, Sir Ian said it was "directly linked to the ongoing and expanding anti-terrorist operation".

But a claim has emerged that a member of Sir Ian's private office team believed police had targeted the wrong man six hours after the shooting. BBC home affairs correspondent Margaret Gilmore said independent investigators examining the matter were told this by a senior officer. "If investigators believe that a senior officer, let alone a member of Sir Ian's private office, knew so much earlier, then it raises questions about Sir Ian's leadership - why he the boss was not told sooner," she said. But she added that the claims were being "emphatically" denied and that the investigators from the IPCC were now attempting to get to the bottom of the allegations. - BBC

Blundering Met Police chief in line for £34,000 bonus

Ben Leapman / London Telegraph | March 19 2006

Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, is being recommended for a performance bonus of up to £34,000 despite a string of gaffes and questions over his leadership.

The merit award scheme, the first ever offered to a Metropolitan Police commissioner, was approved in principle by police watchdogs at a secret meeting last week. But critics are now asking why Sir Ian, whose basic salary is £228,000, is even being considered for a bonus after lurching from one crisis to another in the 13 months since he took the job.

He has apologised for secretly taping telephone conversations with public officials and for saying that he could not understand why the Soham schoolgirl murders received so much media coverage.

He was criticised for intervening in a political row over anti-terrorism laws and is under investigation for remarks he made after his officers shot dead an innocent man, Jean Charles de Menezes, on the London Underground last July when they mistook him for a suicide bomber.

Fresh doubts about Sir Ian's future were raised this weekend as a furious row broke out among his senior officers.

Damian Hockney, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said: "After this period of turmoil at the Met, Sir Ian should be stepping aside for a period, not claiming a pay bonus." Under the rules of the bonus scheme, agreed by the MPA remuneration sub-committee, Sir Ian qualifies for the pay-out if he meets up to six "personal objectives", which include reducing crime and boosting the ethnic diversity of the force.

He will be asked to explain in a letter why he deserves the pay-out, and to defend his performance at an "end of year review" meeting with Len Duvall, chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, and Denis O'Connor, HM Inspector of Constabulary.

The sub-committee, chaired by magistrate Rachel Whittaker, will decide in June whether he qualifies for a payout of between £11,400 and £34,200, worth five to 15 per cent of his salary. The payout will be based on "the degree of excellence" that Sir Ian has shown, and may be withheld if his performance is judged below-par.

The biggest threat to the Commissioner's future is the ongoing probe by the Independent Police Complaints Commission into shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was mistaken for a suicide bomber.

Sir Ian claims he did not know for 24 hours that the wrong man has been shot. His version of events has been disputed by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick, who is threatening to sue for libel after Scotland Yard refuted his evidence to the IPCC. A disciplinary committee is examining a claim that Mr Paddick leaked information to a journalist.

In a separate outbreak of infighting, Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said last week that he had taken legal advice over cuts in his budget for tackling organised crime.

In a letter to The Times yesterday, Sir Ian pleaded for an end to "continual speculation about reports that are not yet published, investigations that are not yet finished and the results of considerations by prosecutors which are not yet finalised".

Mr Duvall said: "Ian Blair's detractors cannot diminish the significant achievements under his leadership."

Around 20 more senior Scotland Yard officers, including Mr Paddick and Mr Ghaffur, are also in line for merit awards. The system was recommended in 2004 by the Home Office and HM Inspectorate of Contabulary as a way for forces to reward exceptional performance by their top brass.

The Association of Chief Police Officers opposes performance bonuses and insists that they do nothing to improve the overall success of forces. The organisation said in a statement: "We consider them to be inappropriate, undermining public confidence if the public believe that operational decisions are being made to ensure a chief officer's bonus. It is right that there is an assessment of a chief officer's performance, but success relies on the contributions of others and bonus payments to individuals can be divisive and arbitrary." - telegraph.co.uk

'A senior police officer was called at the Lord's Test match and told: you have shot the shot the wrong guy'

By Ben Leapman, Home Affairs Correspondent (Filed: 26/03/2006)

A senior Scotland Yard officer was allegedly telephoned at the Ashes Test match at Lord's to be told that police had just shot dead an innocent man in the aftermath of the failed 21/7 terrorist bombings, according to documents seen by the Sunday Telegraph.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Yates was said to have been told on Friday, July 22 - within hours of the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes in London - that the Brazilian man had no connection with terrorism.

If the account is true, it increases the pressure on Sir Ian Blair, the embattled Metropolitan Police Commissioner, who insists that he did not know until the following day - Saturday, July 23 - that the wrong man had been shot.

At the centre of the row is the controversial officer Brian Paddick, also a deputy assistant commissioner at the Met. Internal force documents describe how Mr Paddick said to a broadcast journalist last month: "An officer of the same rank as me was rung off-duty at the cricket match and told, 'You have shot the wrong guy'." Now facing an investigation into alleged unauthorised disclosure of confidential information, Mr Paddick insists he was merely passing on a rumour, not stating fact.

But the row over events following the de Menezes shooting, focusing on who knew what and when, threatens to tear Scotland Yard apart and undermine Sir Ian's leadership irreparably. He stands to lose his job if an inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission finds that he knew the same day that the wrong man had been killed.

Yesterday, Scotland Yard confirmed that a senior officer had attended day two of the England v Australia match on Friday, July 22 and named him as Mr Yates, of the Met's specialist crime directorate. He was on leave, despite the terrorist emergency. Mr Yates, 48, is regarded as a rising star of Scotland Yard. His previous role on the Met's SCD6 team - dubbed the Celebrity Squad, for its investigations into the rich and famous - pitched him into high profile cases, including briefing the Royal Family on the prosecution of Paul Burrell, the former butler of Diana, Princess of Wales.

A Met spokesman said that Mr Yates, who has visited the de Menezes family in Brazil, had testified to the IPCC that he was unaware on the Friday that the man shot at Stockwell had been innocent. However, the documents show that Mr Paddick still suspects that senior Met officers knew on Friday that the mistake had been made.

Mr Paddick, 47, Britain's most senior openly gay police officer, sprang to prominence when, as bor-ough commander for Lambeth, he pioneered a "softly-softly" approach to cannabis that became a blueprint for national policy. It marked him out as a rising star, but it also made him enemies. Now in charge of the Met's territorial policing division, he stood alongside Sir Ian after the July 7 bombings to appeal for calm. Two weeks later came the failed bombing attempt of July 21.

Police marksmen hunting the failed bombers followed Mr de Menezes, 27, and shot him dead at about 10am on July 22. That afternoon at 4pm, Sir Ian told the media that the shooting was "directly linked" to the anti-terrorist operation.

However, the following day at 5pm, Scotland Yard admitted that its officers had made a terrible mistake. After a complaint from the de Menezes family, the IPCC - already investigating the shooting - opened a separate inquiry into the commissioner's conduct. According to the documents, Mr Paddick was telephoned by a journalist on St Valentine's Day this year while on duty. Snippets of the conversation were overheard by a junior colleague who, fearing that rules had been broken, reported the matter to the Met's internal affairs division.

During the conversation on his mobile phone, Mr Paddick let slip two key pieces of information that could land him, as well as his boss, in trouble. He revealed for the first time that he had recently made a statement to the IPCC's inquiry into the commissioner's conduct. And, without naming Mr Yates, he gave an account of the alleged call to the cricket match. It was not until March 16 that the public learnt that Mr Paddick had given evidence to the IPCC. The news emerged when the BBC home affairs correspondent, Margaret Gilmore, told viewers that an unnamed senior Met officer had told investigators that a member of staff in the commissioner's private office believed that the wrong man had been killed within six hours of the shooting.

Later, it was suggested that Mr Paddick had given the IPCC the names of two senior officers who were said to have known on the day. Both are understood to have been called before the IPCC: one denied the charge while the other gave equivocal evidence.

The response from Scotland Yard was swift and brutal: "We are satisfied that whatever the reasons for this suggestion being made, it is simply not true." The rebuttal was so damning that Mr Paddick went to his lawyers to discuss the possibility of suing his employer for libel. In a statement defending the charge of making an unauthorised disclosure, Mr Paddick does not claim he was misquoted but maintains his only mistake was in being too open with the journalist.

He defends his decision to pass on the cricket match information by describing it as a "rumour", of which some in the media were already aware, in order to deflect the journalist away from the content of his statement to the IPCC. "I should perhaps have merely stated that I was unaware that any other senior officers knew on the Friday - but this was untrue."

Scotland Yard said of the cricket allegation: "John Yates made a statement to the IPCC making it clear that he did not know an innocent person had been shot at Stockwell Tube station on that day." - telegraph.co.uk

Officer who challenged Met chief may lose job

Vikram Dodd - Tuesday April 18, 2006 - The Guardian

A high profile Scotland Yard officer who has repeatedly clashed with his bosses over the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes faces being ousted from his job, the Guardian has learned.

Brian Paddick gave evidence to the official inquiry into the shooting of the Brazilian at Stockwell tube station last July, that challenged claims by his boss, the Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Ian Blair, and is also facing an allegation that he leaked information about the killing to a BBC journalist.

Mr Paddick told the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation into the commissioner's conduct, that officials within Sir Ian's own office feared the wrong man had been killed just hours after the shooting. Sir Ian has repeatedly said that he and his aides had no inkling until the morning of the next day that the man shot eight times by officers hunting suicide bombers was in fact innocent.

Within the past fortnight Mr Paddick has been told by his bosses that they want to move him out of his post as deputy chief of territorial policing in the capital, according to several sources. Scotland Yard chiefs have told Mr Paddick they want to move him to a role where he does not come into the force's central London headquarters and has little contact with the public. He would be "put out to grass" until later this year when he reaches 30 years' service and can retire on a full police pension. Talks between the two sides are continuing.

Jenny Jones, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority which oversees the force, said: "It does look like a punishment for the IPCC statement and the alleged leak. We will be asking questions about this.

"Whistleblowing is an important part of democracy, letting people know when misinformation is being given. We need to know if he's being punished for whistleblowing or for something else."

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said that discussions about the postings of senior officers were "always ongoing" and declined to discuss individual cases.