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Met Chief says sorry after de Menezes guilty verdict - but REFUSES to resign Daily
Mail • Metropolitan Police found guilty of breaching health and safety • The jury cleared Cressida Dick, the officer in charge of the operation, of any personal responsibility • A £175,000 fine imposed on the Met, plus £385,000 costs • Met commissioner Sir Ian Blair refuses to go despite calls for his resignation The Metropolitan Police was today found guilty of breaching health and safety laws over the shooting of innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes.
The Tories and Liberal Democrats called for the Met's Commissioner Sir Ian Blair to resign. But he defiantly said he would not quit and said Mr de Menezes' death was "an isolated breach of the law in exceptional circumstances". Conservative home affairs spokesman David Davis said: "His position is now untenable, in light of these findings and the overriding need to restore public confidence." Lib Dem Nick Clegg said: "This guilty verdict makes it unavoidable that Ian Blair should take responsibility on behalf of his whole organisation and resign." But despite this both Gordon Brown and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith gave the police chief their full backing. Mr de Menezes, 27, died following a "catastrophic" series of errors in the operation which ended in his death. He was shot seven times by specialist firearms officers at Stockwell Tube station after being mistaken for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman. Prosecutors at the Old Bailey set out 19 alleged failings in the police operation in the hours leading up to the shooting on July 22, 2005. The jury convicted the force on the second day of its deliberations. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair was in court to hear the verdict. The force has been fined £175,000, plus £385,000 costs. Speaking after the verdict, Sir Ian Blair apologised once again to the family and friends of Mr de Menezes - but confirmed he would not be resigning. "It's important to remember that no police officer went out that day to shoot an innocent man," he said. "It was the culmination of actions by many hands ... and a race against time to find the failed suicide bombers. "A number of officers behaved with exemplary bravery." He went on to say he would not be resigning, adding: "We will be taking time to consider whether or not any of our operating practices needs to change in light of this conviction." In a rider to the verdict, the jury cleared the officer in charge of the operation which led to the shooting, Cressida Dick of personal responsibility. The foreman told the court: "In reaching this verdict the jury attaches no personal culpability to Commander Dick." Ronald Thwaites QC, representing the Met, had told the jury Mr de Menezes was acting in an "aggressive and threatening manner" when challenged by officers. But campaigners reacted angrily to the way police defended the case, accusing them of a "sickening" attempt to blacken Mr de Menezes's name. There was also a bitter courtroom battle over prosecution claims that a composite image of the Brazilian victim and Osman, produced by the defence, had been doctored to make them look more alike. The trial and investigation is estimated to have cost around £3.5 million in public money. But it was nearly derailed after an armed police raid on the home of a juror's ex-boyfriend in the second week of the case, in which the female juror's baby was taken away. The Met Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, whose office was on trial during the case, said before it started that he feared a guilty verdict would have a "profound" impact on policing throughout the UK. During the trial, prosecutors claimed that "fundamental failures" at all levels led to the death of Mr de Menezes. Police were unsure if he was in fact Osman but still allowed him unchallenged onto two buses and a Tube train. Surveillance officers who were following him asked their Scotland Yard control room more than once if they should arrest him but were told to wait for the arrival of SO19 firearms officers. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dick, who was in overall charge on the day, denied claims that she missed the "one safe opportunity" to stop him and that she lost control of the operation.
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