IPCC Report is out

For those of us able to string two sentences together, and able to look on the Internet for information. The IPCC report has vindicated what most of us thought, that the Police mislead (Fucking lied) the media about the fatal murder of Mr Jean Charles de Menezes.

Having read at the time on the News websites and more specifically the BBC's Have Your Say, I came to the conclusion earlier on that something had gone tragically wrong, the issued Police Statements did not confirm what eye witnesses were telling reporters.

From November 2005 until March 2006 the Police were slow at handing to the IPCC documents for their investigation, whilst this in itself does not constitute a cover up, it certainly hints at one. Any government body under investigation seems to have the ability to deny access or be extremely slow at producing documents, yet let a private company try and it and they are lambasted from pillar to post. Not only that but during the investigation the IPCC was threatened with court action by some of the serving officers, with I might add the full backing of the Metropolitan Police! Which in my opinion goes to show that serving Police Officers seem to have nothing but contempt for the IPCC.

Some of the facts that came out in the Context of the Investigation were as follows:

Jean Charles de Menezes wore summer clothing
Jean Charles de Menezes did not run at any time
Jean Charles de Menezes did not know he was being pursued by the Police
Jean Charles de Menezes did not struggle with Police
Jean Charles de Menezes did not refuse to obey Police Instructions
Jean Charles de Menezes was not challenged by Police

The IPCC stated " The Police knowingly issued misleading and inaccurate information about the shooting." and went on to say "Jean Charles de Menezes did nothing out of the ordinary and there was no action he could have taken to save himself"

The murder of Jean Charles de Menezes, for that is ultimately what it was, is entirely in my opinion due to the knee jerk reaction of the Government, permitting the Metropolitan Police to operate under a "Shoot to Kill" policy for suspected terrorists.

In questions prior to the IPCC investigation starting, a journalist asked if CCTV footage was available that showed what happened to the then alleged terrorist suspect, he was told that film was not available as the cameras were not working at that time.

Yet the IPCC were shown CCTV footage during their investigation, which clearly showed Mr De Menezes did nothing wrong. I wonder if the footage showing the actual shooting was made available or if it mysteriously disappeared.

Sir Ian Blair, Police Commissioner came under some flack from the IPCC, but they could find no evidence that he deliberately misled the media and public, in interviews. They went on to state that senior members of the of the Metropolitan Police Management Team had made serious errors in the way that information was passed to the Commissioner and subsequently to the Press.

Whilst not quite the ringing endorsement that Ian Blair wanted, as it does raise questions about his ability to lead, it at the moment means he gets to keep his job. But as every ex squaddie will know, at the end of the day, Blair is just a Rupert, a face that can toe the party line, without whom the government would be deeper in the shit!