Murdering British cops are home free

Police watchdogs have cleared Scotland Yard officers of any disciplinary offence over the Stockwell shooting but the senior woman in charge could still face action. The Independent Police Complaints Commmission is expected to announce today that a decision on Commander Cressida Dick, and a number of officers who were advising her, will wait until the end of the Yard's trial under health and safety laws over the death of Jean Charles de Menezes. This is due to start in the autumn.

Last night, one source close to the Scotland Yard told The Times: "The IPCC is going to say various officers are OK but they will reserve their position on a number of others and wait until the end of the trial." Penalties imposed in police disciplinary hearings, which are normally in private, can range from an admonition or warning to loss of pay, a reduction in rank or dismissal. If a charge was brought against Ms Dick, it would be heard by the Metropolitan Police Authority because of her rank.

Mr de Menezes, 27, a Brazilian electrician, was killed on July 22, 2005, during a botched counter-terrorist operation the day after the collapse of an alleged attack on London's transport system. He was shot eight times as he sat in a carriage at the station after being wrongly identified as a terror suspect and followed by a Scotland Yard team fearing a fresh attack on the Underground system.

The IPCC issued warnings of possible disciplinary action to nearly a dozen Scotland Yard officers who took part in the operation at Stockwell station in South London. One investigation by the IPCC nicknamed Stockwell One has looked at the shooting and another, dubbed Stockwell Two, has examined complaints about what Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and Scotland Yard said afterwards. The report on the actual shooting was passed to the CPS last year and the force now faces a trial this autumn.

Eleven officers were named in Stockwell One including the marksmen deployed on July 22 under the "Kratos" rules, which allow a "shoot-to-kill" policy for suicide bombers. Commander Dick, now a Deputy Assistant Commissioner, was the officer with the power to authorise the use of shoot-to-kill force to stop a suspected bomber. She had several middle-ranking officers acting as technical advisers. She was questioned by the IPCC investigators, but other officers submitted statements and employed their right to remain silent.

Documents and photographs from the investigation alleged that one of the undercover team meant to be identifying the shot man was relieving himself as Mr de Menezes left his flat. The IPCC also discovered that a Special Branch logbook had apparently been altered to hide that he had been identified wrongly.

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