Controversial police shooting report delayed
A key enquiry into the London Underground shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes has been controversially shelved until after the mayoral elections.
The London Evening Standard report looked into the investigation over the role of Metropolitan Police Chief Sir Ian Blair after the shooting of de Menezes in Stockwell, nearly three years ago. A report was due to be published in February, but it has been hit by what critics describe as ‘unacceptable delays’.
The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) admitted that the report may not be published until after the mayoral elections on May 1st. Publication would have renewed calls for Blair to resign, and would have seriously damaged incumbent mayor Ken Livingstone’s hopes of re-election for a third term. He has openly supported Blair in spite of the criticism the latter has received. Both his main mayoral rivals, Boris Johnson (Conservative) and Brian Paddick (Lib Dem), have refused to back Blair.
The decision to delay the report is nothing short of scandalous. The de Menezes family and others need to know what went wrong on the day their family member was killed. If Blair was found to have done something wrong, he should own up, and not hide behind his office at Scotland Yard. If it meant he would have to resign, then so be it.
Livingstone should have sacked Blair at the first opportunity. He has followed the typical Labour party trick of trying to ‘bury bad news’, but even this scandal, on top of the other problems he’s facing, may yet bury him deeper in the brown stuff…
Comments
Leave a Reply
-
London
3°