Ian Blair denies cover up

Friday, 19 August 2005 12:00 AM

Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Ian Blair has denied there was any cover up of the shooting dead by police of Jean Charles de Menezes.

His comments came as the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) revealed that its inquiry into the death had been delayed by initial resistance from police.

But in an interview with BBC Radio Four's Talking Politics - set to be aired on Saturday - Sir Ian denied there had been a cover up.

The Met chief rejected claims that he did not act in good faith in connection with incident which took place on at Stockwell underground station in south London on July 22nd.

"Of all the allegations made in the last couple of days the matter that I would most want to reject is the concept of a cover up," he said in comments aired on Newsnight.

"You wouldn't cover it up by writing a letter delivered by hand to the permanent secretary of the Home Office, the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority and the chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission itself."

Sir Ian added: "What I actually said was, we have a unique situation here, which at that stage I and my officers thought the dead man was a suicide bomber.

"He might have been one of the four we were looking for, he might have been somebody else and we were in the middle of biggest counter terrorist operation, is it wise to bring in another set of investigators into that?

"Secondly, the IPCC has a duty, which I respect, to inform the family of everything they find and this is an investigation which involves secret intelligence."

Lawyers acting for the family met with IPCC officials yesterday morning to voice their concerns over the way the investigation has proceeded.

Speaking after the meeting, one of those lawyers, Gareth Peirce, accused the Met of failing to ensure a fully transparent inquiry into the killing of an innocent man, who was mistakenly thought to be a suicide bomber.

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