July 7th People's Independent Inquiry Forum -> Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner

Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Ian Blair to be 'completely exonerated'?

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The Antagonist

Posted: Apr 6 2006, 10:02 PM

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QUOTE

Ian Blair will be 'completely exonerated' over de Menezes shooting
Publisher: Ian Morgan
Published: 03/04/2006 - 09:42:10 AM

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, predicts that Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair will be "completely exonerated" by an investigation into the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes.

Mr Livingstone not only publicly backed Britain's top police officer but called for his contract to be extended so he would be in office when the 2012 Olympics were staged in the Capital.

The Mayor speaking on the BBC's Sunday AM programme about Sir Ian said: "I have to say he is incredibly impressive.

"I have worked with him now for over five years and I don't have the slightest doubt he will be completely exonerated when we get the inquiry into the de Menezes shooting."

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has completed an investigation into the shooting of Mr de Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician from Brazil.

He was shot seven times in the head by anti-terror officers after being mistaken for a suicide bomber the day after the alleged attempted July 21 bomb attacks.

The report has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service which is currently deciding if any police officers should face charges over the death.

The IPCC hopes to conclude its second inquiry into the shooting, known as Stockwell 2, by the end of April.

That is examining, among other things, Sir Ian's conduct in the aftermath of the incident.

Last week it was reported the Commissioner had the "personal desire and political backing" to continue for another two years beyond his existing term in office.

Mr Livingstone added: "I will certainly be saying very strongly that I would like his contract extended.

"Because I think it would make real sense that as the Commissioner who has put in all the preparations for security around the Olympics, he should take that through till after the Olympics."

Asked about his own plans for the future, Mr Livingstone said he would seek re-election in 2008.

The politician - who was elected London's Mayor in 2000 and for a second term in 2004 - was previously leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) in the early 80s.

He said: "At some point people (will) just get sick of me - it seems that I've been around forever.

"People complain about Tony Blair, I was prancing around on the GLC stage when he was still at college.

"When they want you to go they will let you know, fairly brusquely.

"I certainly want to seek re-election in 2008 because I've given an undertaking that I will deliver the Olympics to the IOC (International Olympic Committee).

"I love this job - I think other than being Prime Minister this is the best job in British politics."

The Antagonist

Posted: Feb 20 2007, 06:36 PM

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QUOTE

Met chief kept in dark over De Menezes
Senior officers criticised for failing to tell boss the wrong man had been shot

Vikram Dodd
Monday February 19, 2007
The Guardian

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Jean Charles de Menezes' family at Stockwell tube station. Photograph: Lindsey Parnaby

An official report into Scotland Yard's killing of Jean Charles de Menezes will strongly criticise the force, branding as "incomprehensible" the 24-hour delay in telling Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police's chief commissioner, that the wrong man had been shot.

The Guardian has learned that the still-secret report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission finds that senior Scotland Yard staff feared within hours that an innocent man had been shot but did not tell their boss, Britain's most senior police officer. Mr de Menezes, a Brazilian, was shot dead at 10am July 22 2005 after officers mistook him for a terrorist.

Sir Ian has maintained he had no inkling until the following morning, some 24 hours after the shooting at Stockwell underground station in south London.

The findings will raise questions about Sir Ian's management of his force. Sources close to him fear critics will use them to try and oust him from office.

The Guardian has also learned the report, which will not be published until next month at the earliest, contains some good news for Sir Ian. The IPCC concludes that there is no evidence to support the allegation that he lied about when he knew that the shooting of Mr de Menezes had been botched.

The IPCC finds that several people at Scotland Yard on the day of the shooting said information they received that the dead man was a Brazilian national led them to fear the man killed by police was innocent. A police operation mounted outside the south London flat where Mr de Menezes lived had been designed to track a male suspect of east African origin.

One senior police source told the IPCC that by that afternoon, top officers were working on the assumption that "we got the wrong person ... we better plan around this being a mistake". Around midday on July 22, Sir Ian tried to block the IPCC from investigating, writing to the Home Office to say that he feared an independent inquiry would hamper the hunt for bombers who had tried to attack London's transport network.

Just after 3.30pm that day, Sir Ian made a series of statements at a press conference about the shooting which his staff already feared to be incorrect. "This operation was directly linked to the ongoing terrorist investigation ... the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions," Sir Ian said. That led the family of Mr de Menezes to officially complain, and also to allege the force had tried to malign the name of their loved one.

The IPCC has sent more than 21 letters to Met employees warning them that they face criticism or that their accounts are challenged by other witnesses interviewed as part of the inquiry. The IPCC was told by Brian Paddick, deputy assistant commissioner, that members of staff in the commissioner's office feared on July 22 that an innocent man had been shot. Parts of his account are disputed.

A warning letter was sent to at least one Met employee in the commissioner's office on the day of the killing: Moir Stewart, then Sir Ian's staff officer.

The IPCC makes no recommendation that Sir Ian Blair should face disciplinary action, and it has found no evidence to support allegations that he lied about what he knew and when he knew it.

The report appears to support the theory that for some reason, which it describes as "incomprehensible", those under Sir Ian did not tell him about emerging clues pointing strongly to the fact that the man who had been shot was innocent, and not a suicide bomber about to attack London's transport network. Over the last two months Sir Ian has tried to pre-empt the report's impact by announcing it had cleared him of knowingly not telling the truth, a strategy some of his closest allies fear could backfire.

Senior allies of the commissioner fear there could be enough in the report that newspapers hostile to Sir Ian could use to attempt to hound him out of office. One senior ally said: "It could still be fairly devastating. Various people had more information, that was substantive, that was not passed to the top."

Britain's most senior counter terrorism officer, Andy Hayman, has received a "tough" warning letter from the IPCC. It investigated him over alleged differences in statements he made to journalists about how confident he was that a terrorist had been shot and those made to a crisis meeting of the Met's top officers on the day of the shooting. Sources say he has written a and robust response to the IPCC warning letter, though any decision about whether he should face disciplinary action would be taken by the Metropolitan Police Authority.

The report is the second by the IPCC into the shooting. Publication of the first which examined why the Met shot the wrong man has been delayed until a criminal prosecution of the force for health and safety violations is completed.

Dave52	Posted: Feb 20 2007, 10:37 PM
Group: Members Posts: 379 Member No.: 118 Joined: 14-July 06	The Teflon Comm...

indisguise

Posted: Feb 21 2007, 07:32 PM

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QUOTE

The Teflon Comm...

suggests that he was following orders from Downing St, that it was a 'defence' or 'national security' operation and that special forces were involved. I am suggestig that it wasn't a strictly police operation - consider that the IPCC was refused access for a week. That needs special powers.

Is it plausible that Blair didn't know until the following day? They would have been celebrating.

The Antagonist

Posted: Sep 9 2007, 02:32 PM

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QUOTE

Sir Ian Blair's future in doubt as political critics renew attack
Last updated at 09:35am on 7th September 2007

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'We got it appallingly wrong': Sir Ian Blair said senior Met Police management were late in telling him that Mr de Menezes (below) was innocent

Sir Ian Blair faced growing questions about his future today as London politicians expressed new concerns about the way he runs the Met.

Critics claimed the Met Commissioner's position was "rocky" while there were more allegations he has lost the support of some senior colleagues.

The new problems for Sir Ian surfaced a day after he suffered a fierce grilling from the Metropolitan Police Authority over the shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes.

During a combative meeting, Sir Ian was forced to say that he would not resign as Authority members accused him of trying to avoid the blame for the fatal blunder and of failing to be properly on top of what was happening inside his own force.

Although Sir Ian has the overall backing of the MPA and the support of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, critics piled on further pressure by mounting new attacks. MPA member Damian Hockney, who leads the One Party group on the London Assembly, said: "Sir Ian is in a difficult position. The criticism of him at yesterday's full authority meeting was across the board. Even those who normally support him were critical.

"The difficulty may come when other issues come to the fore, such as the Met's trial over the de Menezes shooting on health and safety grounds."

Mr Hockney said that when Sir John Stevens, Sir Ian's predecessor, faced a health and safety trial hewould have had no option but to resign had he lost.

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Others close to the MPA warned that Sir Ian's position was becoming rocky. One source said: "You cannot demand his resignation in an openmeeting because people like Jacqui Smith will rush to his defence and nothing gets done. But there is this sense now of how do you solve a problem like Ian Blair?"

The MPA has also announced its own review of the de Menezes shooting, focusing on issues such as why Sir Ian was not told an innocent man had been killed until the next day.

Insiders hope this report may be more incisive in its findings than the IPCC's investigation, which cleared Sir Ian over claims he knowingly misled the public despite raising serious doubts about communication within the Met over the affair.

In his questioning of Sir Ian, Tory MPA member Richard Barnes blamed this on the "absence of an inquiring mind" and added: "I have deep-seated concerns about the leadership of the Metropolitan Police."

Other London politicians defended Sir Ian. Jenny Jones, the Green Party representative on the MPA, said he was still the best man for the job and the Home Secretary is said to retain full confidence in him.

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Point-blank: a marksman after the shooting at Stockwell Tube in July, 2005 when Jean Charles de Menezes was murdered

What's interesting is that this story appeared in a news alert as follows:

QUOTE

Met chief faces quiz over 'SAS involvement' in Menezes death
Daily Mail - UK
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair is facing questions today
over whether the SAS was involved in the shooting of Jean Charles de
Menezes. ...

<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=480270&in_page_id=1770>

This post has been edited by The Antagonist on Sep 9 2007, 02:40 PM

The Antagonist

Posted: Sep 10 2007, 01:35 PM

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The involvement of the SAS story hasn't gone away yet:

QUOTE

Watchdog attacks Blair over Tube shooting
By Ben Farmer
Last Updated: 1:53am BST 07/09/2007

The country's most senior policeman was lambasted for "a lack of an inquiring mind" by members of his force's watchdog yesterday over his actions following the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes.
# Timeline: De Menezes shooting evidence

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Sir Ian Blair was questioned for three hours yesterday

Sir Ian Blair was questioned about how he had been kept in the dark in the aftermath of the blunder which led to the killing of the innocent Brazilian electrician at Stockwell Tube station in 2005.

At a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority yesterday the head of Scotland Yard was questioned for three hours as members raised concerns over his leadership and asked him again if he thought he should resign.

He was responding to an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report last month that found Sir Ian had been left "almost totally uninformed" after the botched counter terrorism operation.

MPA member Richard Barnes told Sir Ian his approach had pointed to "a lack of an inquiring mind" and a "dysfunctional senior management".

Mr Barnes added: "There are such major questions within this that I have really deep-seated concerns about the leadership of the Metropolitan Police."
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Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot after being mistaken for a terrorist bomber the day after four men tried to bomb the transport system on July 21, 2007.

The IPCC report, known as Stockwell 2, into the shooting found Sir Ian had been deliberately kept in the dark about the mistaken killing and Scotland Yard had put out misleading information to the media.

Sir Ian was not told of the mistake until 24 hours later.

Responding to the report, Sir Ian said the force had changed dramatically since the shooting and had set up a new unit to assess information on big, rapidly moving cases.

The meeting also heard Sir Ian confirm the SAS had been involved in the operation in which the Brazilian was killed.

He said Mr de Menezes had not been shot by members of the elite regiment, but an unarmed officer had been involved in his surveillance.

Mr de Menezes's family claimed today that Sir Ian seems "to be above all authority". Alex Pereira, Mr de Menezes's cousin, said: There is such clear incompetence and I believe Sir Ian is immune from facing disciplinary action."

numeral

Posted: Sep 26 2007, 02:44 PM

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QUOTE

Letter from Sir Ian Blair to Sir John Gieve following the shooting of Mr Jean Charles de Menezes

In response to an FOI request for a copy of the letter sent by Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner to Sir John Gieve, Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, following the shooting of Mr Jean Charles de Menezes on 22 July.

The request outlined above resulted in the release of the information requested. For the sake of completeness, we are also publishing today, Sir John Gieve�s reply of 22 July to Sir Ian Blair�s letter and a letter of 22 July from Len Duvall, Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority to Sir John Gieve.

NB: Sir Ian�s letter was incorrectly dated 21 July but was in fact sent on 22 July.

* Sir Ian Blair's letter to Sir John Gieve [PDF]
* Sir John Gieve's reply to Sir Ian Blair [PDF]
* Len Duvall's letter to Sir John Gieve [PDF]

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