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'Blood money' and leaks: how a week went sour for the Met
By Stewart Tendler and Daniel McGrory
Family of shot Brazilian say they have rejected $1m offer - and it may all get worse for Britain's top policeman
AFTER what he describes as the worst week of his professional life, Sir Ian Blair learnt last night that he was also being accused by the parents of Jean Charles de Menezes of trying to buy their silence with a $1 million (£560,000) compensation offer.
Maria, Mr de Menezes’s mother, dismissed this as “blood money”, saying that no amount of cash would stop her coming to London to ask Sir Ian why he told lies about her son, who was shot when he was mistaken for a terrorist suspect on a Tube train at Stockwell station on July 22.
Discussions with the family about money were supposed to be confidential, but then every move Scotland Yard has made in recent days has only landed Sir Ian and his officers in more controversy.
Police said last night that it was pointless to deny making a $1 million offer because the de Menezes family would again dominate the headlines today.
Senior officers know they have taken a battering this past week and just hope that there are no other embarrassments in store for them or their boss.
In the past 72 hours Sir Ian has denied allegations of trying to cover up his officers’ mistakes and become embroiled in a slanging match with the independent watchdog, which said that he tried to stop it investigating the killing.
Yasmin Khan, a lawyer for the Justice4Jean campaign, compared the conduct of police to an episode of Laurel and Hardy. The signs are that next week will only get worse for Sir Ian and others involved in the various inquiries into how Mr de Menezes was mistaken for a suicide bomber.
There is likely to be a diplomatic row with Brazil. Two of its senior judges are due to meet officials running the investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) on Monday.
The Brazilians expect to see more evidence than what was leaked to the press over the past week, but senior officials at the IPCC say the judges will be disappointed.
One said: “They will be told no more than the lawyers for the de Menezes family and we will not be sharing our evidence with them.” The Brazilian Government has already expressed outrage at the witness testimony and photographs of Mr de Menezes dead on the floor of a Tube train being leaked and will not take kindly to being kept in the dark.
There is also certain to be a row over claims last night that it may take years before the IPCC’s findings are published.
Officials there have confirmed to The Times that their files have to go to the coroner and possibly the Crown Prosecution Service and cannot be published until a decision has been taken on an inquest and the possible prosecution of officers involved in the shooting.
On past experience, it could well be 2008 before anyone appears in court, if at all.
Lawyers for the family are sure to question this delay after John Wadham, deputy head of the IPCC, had said that the work could be wrapped up in six months. The Justice4Jean campaign is puzzled why it should take that long.
All the key witnesses have given statements. Campaigners say that there is no lengthy forensic inquiry needed as the facts of how Mr de Menezes died are not an issue.
Ms Khan said: “After all that has happened, it is now time for Sir Ian and everyone else involved to come clean.”
Sir Ian privately accepts that he was too quick to go on television to give his senior officers’ version of what happened in South London.
He knew that there was fear in the capital that would-be suicide bombers were still on the loose and he needed to assure the public that police were closing in on the terrorists.
Counter-terror detectives already knew the names of the alleged July 21 bombers. They also thought that they knew some of their addresses. Scotia Road in Tulse Hill, where Mr de Menezes lived, was one of them. What has still not been explained is who identified a light-skinned Brazilian electrician as an alleged East African terrorist. Was it a policeman on the surveillance team, or an MI5 officer or even one of the soldiers who were attached to Scotland Yard?
The first man who was supposed to identify the suspect admits that he was relieving himself behind a tree but saw enough of Mr de Menezes to tell commanders that he was an “IC1” — the description used for a white North European and nothing like Hussain Osman, the suspected Ethiopian-born bomb suspect awaiting extradition from Rome.
ITV News, which received the leaked documents from the IPCC, say the firearms officer in charge had been ordered to detain the target as soon as possible after he left the flats. Again, nobody has explained why it then took another 29 minutes for anyone to approach Mr de Menezes. In that time he caught a bus and strolled casually to a Tube station. What so upsets the family is that it took so long for police to admit that the accounts the family were given of how Mr de Menezes was acting suspiciously and leapt ticket barriers to avoid the police were wrong.
Alessandro Pereira, his cousin, said that if nothing else, Sir Ian should resign for making the family suffer for those three weeks before the record was put straight.
“The police even went to Brazil and met my family, yet they still didn’t tell us the truth,” he said. “Did they think because we are poor Brazilians we do not deserve the truth?
“I want Ian Blair to imagine how we felt having to listen to the lies about Jean . . . to see Ian Blair on television telling those lies.” On Monday, the family plans to present a letter to Tony Blair demanding that the police be held to account for Mr de Menezes’s death.
It emerged last night that prominent members of the Justice4Jean campaign are also members of the Stop the War coalition. Brian Coleman, London Assembly deputy leader, said “cronies” of anti-war campaigner George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, were leading the family’s campaign. Despite the controversy, Sir Ian is convinced that there is no alternative to the shoot-to-kill policy if his officers believe that they are facing a suicide bomber.
He told the press this week: “The methods that were used appeared to be the least worst option (for tackling suicide bombers).” He said that he would not resign.
TIME OF DEATH
JULY 22 Police monitor flat in Tulse Hill, South London, which they link to failed bombings of July 21
10am: Jean Charles de Menezes shot by police officers on Underground train at Stockwell
10.30am: Witnesses report that up to 20 undercover officers chased him into station and say he was wearing a padded coat and leapt ticket barrier
10.55am: Scotland Yard confirms shooting
12.00: Sir Ian Blair asks Home Office if Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation can be delayed because it might jeopardise hunt for terrorists
3.45pm: Sir Ian tells press conference: “As I understand the situation the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions.” Scotland Yard statements says “clothing and behaviour” at station added to suspicions. Scotland Yard says investigation will be pursued by Met and subject to scrutiny by IPCC. Later amended to say IPCC will investigate
July 23: Scotland Yard says man shot dead was not linked to attempted terror attacks. Names him as Mr de Menezes
July 25 IPCC and Scotland Yard start discussing handover
July 27 IPCC investigators take over. Relative of Mr de Menezes says she has been told by police her relative was wearing a denim jacket and had used his travelcard to get through the station. Scotland Yard will not confirm
July 28: Sir Ian tells Metropolitan Police Authority Scotland Yard never officially said Mr de Menezes vaulted barrier or wore padded coat
July 29: Home Office criticised by IPCC for issuing “partial information”
August 16: ITV News reveals leaked information showing “catastrophic” blunders in shooting. Mr de Menezes used ordinary ticket to get on station and was held by surveillance as he was shot
August 17: More leaks show police officer refused permission to arrest Mr de Menezes near station. Sir Ian accused of trying to delay IPCC inquiry. He demands leak inquiry
August 18: IPCC attacks police. Sir Ian says he will not resign. Brazil says it is sending own investigators
LINK
By Stewart Tendler and Daniel McGrory
Family of shot Brazilian say they have rejected $1m offer - and it may all get worse for Britain's top policeman
AFTER what he describes as the worst week of his professional life, Sir Ian Blair learnt last night that he was also being accused by the parents of Jean Charles de Menezes of trying to buy their silence with a $1 million (£560,000) compensation offer.
Maria, Mr de Menezes’s mother, dismissed this as “blood money”, saying that no amount of cash would stop her coming to London to ask Sir Ian why he told lies about her son, who was shot when he was mistaken for a terrorist suspect on a Tube train at Stockwell station on July 22.
Discussions with the family about money were supposed to be confidential, but then every move Scotland Yard has made in recent days has only landed Sir Ian and his officers in more controversy.
Police said last night that it was pointless to deny making a $1 million offer because the de Menezes family would again dominate the headlines today.
Senior officers know they have taken a battering this past week and just hope that there are no other embarrassments in store for them or their boss.
In the past 72 hours Sir Ian has denied allegations of trying to cover up his officers’ mistakes and become embroiled in a slanging match with the independent watchdog, which said that he tried to stop it investigating the killing.
Yasmin Khan, a lawyer for the Justice4Jean campaign, compared the conduct of police to an episode of Laurel and Hardy. The signs are that next week will only get worse for Sir Ian and others involved in the various inquiries into how Mr de Menezes was mistaken for a suicide bomber.
There is likely to be a diplomatic row with Brazil. Two of its senior judges are due to meet officials running the investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) on Monday.
The Brazilians expect to see more evidence than what was leaked to the press over the past week, but senior officials at the IPCC say the judges will be disappointed.
One said: “They will be told no more than the lawyers for the de Menezes family and we will not be sharing our evidence with them.” The Brazilian Government has already expressed outrage at the witness testimony and photographs of Mr de Menezes dead on the floor of a Tube train being leaked and will not take kindly to being kept in the dark.
There is also certain to be a row over claims last night that it may take years before the IPCC’s findings are published.
Officials there have confirmed to The Times that their files have to go to the coroner and possibly the Crown Prosecution Service and cannot be published until a decision has been taken on an inquest and the possible prosecution of officers involved in the shooting.
On past experience, it could well be 2008 before anyone appears in court, if at all.
Lawyers for the family are sure to question this delay after John Wadham, deputy head of the IPCC, had said that the work could be wrapped up in six months. The Justice4Jean campaign is puzzled why it should take that long.
All the key witnesses have given statements. Campaigners say that there is no lengthy forensic inquiry needed as the facts of how Mr de Menezes died are not an issue.
Ms Khan said: “After all that has happened, it is now time for Sir Ian and everyone else involved to come clean.”
Sir Ian privately accepts that he was too quick to go on television to give his senior officers’ version of what happened in South London.
He knew that there was fear in the capital that would-be suicide bombers were still on the loose and he needed to assure the public that police were closing in on the terrorists.
Counter-terror detectives already knew the names of the alleged July 21 bombers. They also thought that they knew some of their addresses. Scotia Road in Tulse Hill, where Mr de Menezes lived, was one of them. What has still not been explained is who identified a light-skinned Brazilian electrician as an alleged East African terrorist. Was it a policeman on the surveillance team, or an MI5 officer or even one of the soldiers who were attached to Scotland Yard?
The first man who was supposed to identify the suspect admits that he was relieving himself behind a tree but saw enough of Mr de Menezes to tell commanders that he was an “IC1” — the description used for a white North European and nothing like Hussain Osman, the suspected Ethiopian-born bomb suspect awaiting extradition from Rome.
ITV News, which received the leaked documents from the IPCC, say the firearms officer in charge had been ordered to detain the target as soon as possible after he left the flats. Again, nobody has explained why it then took another 29 minutes for anyone to approach Mr de Menezes. In that time he caught a bus and strolled casually to a Tube station. What so upsets the family is that it took so long for police to admit that the accounts the family were given of how Mr de Menezes was acting suspiciously and leapt ticket barriers to avoid the police were wrong.
Alessandro Pereira, his cousin, said that if nothing else, Sir Ian should resign for making the family suffer for those three weeks before the record was put straight.
“The police even went to Brazil and met my family, yet they still didn’t tell us the truth,” he said. “Did they think because we are poor Brazilians we do not deserve the truth?
“I want Ian Blair to imagine how we felt having to listen to the lies about Jean . . . to see Ian Blair on television telling those lies.” On Monday, the family plans to present a letter to Tony Blair demanding that the police be held to account for Mr de Menezes’s death.
It emerged last night that prominent members of the Justice4Jean campaign are also members of the Stop the War coalition. Brian Coleman, London Assembly deputy leader, said “cronies” of anti-war campaigner George Galloway, the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, were leading the family’s campaign. Despite the controversy, Sir Ian is convinced that there is no alternative to the shoot-to-kill policy if his officers believe that they are facing a suicide bomber.
He told the press this week: “The methods that were used appeared to be the least worst option (for tackling suicide bombers).” He said that he would not resign.
TIME OF DEATH
JULY 22 Police monitor flat in Tulse Hill, South London, which they link to failed bombings of July 21
10am: Jean Charles de Menezes shot by police officers on Underground train at Stockwell
10.30am: Witnesses report that up to 20 undercover officers chased him into station and say he was wearing a padded coat and leapt ticket barrier
10.55am: Scotland Yard confirms shooting
12.00: Sir Ian Blair asks Home Office if Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation can be delayed because it might jeopardise hunt for terrorists
3.45pm: Sir Ian tells press conference: “As I understand the situation the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions.” Scotland Yard statements says “clothing and behaviour” at station added to suspicions. Scotland Yard says investigation will be pursued by Met and subject to scrutiny by IPCC. Later amended to say IPCC will investigate
July 23: Scotland Yard says man shot dead was not linked to attempted terror attacks. Names him as Mr de Menezes
July 25 IPCC and Scotland Yard start discussing handover
July 27 IPCC investigators take over. Relative of Mr de Menezes says she has been told by police her relative was wearing a denim jacket and had used his travelcard to get through the station. Scotland Yard will not confirm
July 28: Sir Ian tells Metropolitan Police Authority Scotland Yard never officially said Mr de Menezes vaulted barrier or wore padded coat
July 29: Home Office criticised by IPCC for issuing “partial information”
August 16: ITV News reveals leaked information showing “catastrophic” blunders in shooting. Mr de Menezes used ordinary ticket to get on station and was held by surveillance as he was shot
August 17: More leaks show police officer refused permission to arrest Mr de Menezes near station. Sir Ian accused of trying to delay IPCC inquiry. He demands leak inquiry
August 18: IPCC attacks police. Sir Ian says he will not resign. Brazil says it is sending own investigators
LINK
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