Sir Ian Blair's attempt to damage de Menezes name to be investigated...

El Hombre Invisible

... at long last.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlo...653128,00.html

Vaguely promising. Despite de Menezes' parents remaining as vocal as ever on the murder of their son, things have been quiet on this for a while. Blair & co stood by their story until an IPCC report contradicting pretty much everything they said was leaked to the public.

Having said that, the IPCC investigation into the leaked report was opened on August 26th at the bequest not of the irrate IPCC but the Met. This latest investigation into the discrepancies between Blair's attempted character assassination and the IPCC's findings comes 3 months later.

It seems the home office can prosecute people who have demonstrated the corruption right at the top of the British Police Service with great alacrity, but are highly reticent to pick up their feet in actually aiding the course of justice. I wonder what finally brought Clarke round to his senses.

The investigation will also cover the attempts by Blair to block the ongoing IPCC enquiry into the shooting itself, scheduled to finish around the same time as this new one. The Met unsuccessfully objected to the IPCC's strong criticism of the Met's obstruction - another case of the Met going after the people who've caught them red-handed!

Is this rabid dog going to be put down, or will this go the way of the Butler report and bottle out of bringing the guilty to account?

Art

Given that if the complaints are upheld criminal prosecutions will follow I'm surprised Ian Blair hasn't been forced to stand down until the investigation is complete. The fact this hasn't happened makes me suspect a coverup in the making.
I saw recently Blair's snipers who shot the guy leaving a pub with a chairleg in a shopping bag were exonerated of any criminal charges just recently which doesn't bode well for the de Menezes family receiving justice.

El Hombre Invisible

I have some faith in the IPCC holding Blair to account. They've publicly criticised Blair already - I see no reason they would kow tow to him now. I am sure the report will find him at fault, but less sure it will form the basis of a criminal charge, and so long as it does not go to the CPS, clearly by Blair's unwillingness to resign despite being caught red-handed, I am not sure anything will come of it. The man is just too arrogant and callous to resign unless he absolutely has to. We're talking about a man who still stands by the shooting of random people for no reason.

Then you have an absurd situation. If Blair is not held to account, the shooter will have to be the scapegoat. But Blair still defends the shooting. So either an officer defended by the police chief is sacked while the police chief himself is defended, which is absurd, or no-one is held to account for what amounts to a random, mindless, trigger-happy slaying, which is also absurd.

The only thing close to justice would be a review of the shoot-to-kill policy itself by the law lords that finds it in breach of human rights, which in its present guise it clearly is. This does not appear to be on the cards.

Art

Even if the IPCC find a criminal offence was committed it is up to the CPS to then decide whether to press charges. Until a decision is made by the CPS, which can take years, the IPCC report will not be made public. If they do eventually decide to prosecute, one wonders how vigourously they will pursue it in court.

My money is on nobody being held to account using the excuse that fighting terrorism allows for extraordinary measures.