London's Metropolitan Police chief Sir Ian Blair faced growing calls to resign yesterday over the shooting of an innocent Brazilian man, as reports emerged that he tried to stop an inquiry into the killing.
Supporters of Jean Charles de Menezes said Blair must go if he deliberately gave misleading information about the death of the 27-year-old, who was shot by police on a subway train last month after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.
Adding to the sense of error, the Daily Mirror tabloid said a senior London police officer in charge of surveillance had ordered her men to take the electrician alive before he entered Stockwell station in south London.
Public confidence in the police was undermined this week after leaked documents contradicted earlier claims about the shooting and revealed a series of blunders that led to de Menezes's death on July 22 -- a day after four would-be bombers tried but failed to repeat the July 7 attacks on the city.
Harriet Wistrich, a lawyer for de Menezes's family, called on Blair to step down and said relatives wanted to know why police gave false information about the operation and never retracted it.
"Sir Ian Blair should resign," Wistrich told ITV News. "The lies that appear to have been put out, like the statement from Sir Ian Blair for instance, are clearly wrong. And nobody has stepped in to correct the lies."
On the day of the shooting, Blair said it had been "directly linked" to anti-terror operations and that the suspect had refused to obey police instructions when challenged.
Initial reports also said de Menezes had been acting suspiciously -- wearing a bulky jacket, jumping a ticket barrier and sprinting onto the train.
But witness accounts and photographs leaked to ITV on Tuesday showed him in a light denim jacket walking calmly into the station, using a ticket to enter and only running along the platform to catch his train in time. They also revealed that de Menezes -- whose death brought to light a secret police "shoot to kill" policy in dealing with suspected suicide bombers -- was being restrained by an officer before being shot eight times.
Nick Harvery, a member of parliament (MP) for the smaller opposition Liberal Democrats, said Blair's position was becoming "untenable."
"He would do himself a lot of good if he could show some contrition and make some public acknowledgement of just how badly it's all been handled," the MP was quoted as saying in the Financial Times newspaper.
"If he continues to bluster his position will become untenable," said Harvey, who is a member of a Home Affairs Committee in the House of Commons. Lawmakers are due to quiz Blair at a meeting of the committee next month.
Turning up the heat on the police chief, the Times and the Guardian newspapers reported that he asked the Home Office on the day of the killing to stop an independent external investigation.
Blair wrote to John Grieve, permanent secretary at the Home Office, to ask for an internal inquiry instead because he felt one by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) would impede anti-terror operations, they said.
Senior police and government sources told the Guardian that the commissioner had also been worried an outside investigation would damage the morale of an elite firearms squad involved in the operation, known as CO19.
"We did make an error, the IPCC should have been called immediately," the police source was quoted as telling the daily.
After an exchange of views, Blair's request was overruled by the Home Office, which said the IPCC was legally obliged to investigate.
A statement from Scotland Yard on Wednesday showed -- contrary to normal practice -- IPCC investigators were kept away from Stockwell station for a further three days. In another blunder, the Daily Mirror reported that Metropolitan Police Commander Cressida Dick instructed officers tailing de Menezes to detain him before he entered the subway station. Despite the command, he was shot dead.
The IPCC was due to brief lawyers for de Menezes's family about the latest information yesterday.
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