MPs "must review" shoot-to-kill policy

Saturday, 27 August 2005 12:00 AM

Parliament must review the police's so-called "shoot-to-kill" policy for suspected suicide bombers, the Liberal Democrats have said.

Lib Dem MP Nick Harvey, a member of the Commons' Home Affairs Select Committee, said the first use of the policy had been a "disaster" following the mistaken shooting of Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes.

The 27-year-old was shot on a train at Stockwell Tube station on July 22 by armed police, who wrongly suspected him of being one of four men wanted over attempted bombings on London's transport network the previous day.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, currently investigating the shooting, said on Friday that it was also probing leaks to the media about details of its inquiry, which appeared to contradict earlier police accounts about Mr Menezes death.

Mr Harvey said the "shoot-to-kill" policy should be scrutinised by MPs following the controversial shooting.

"There may be some circumstances in which the only way to stop an outrage from happening is to kill somebody, but we haven't until now lived in a society where police can come along and shoot people dead," the BBC reports him as saying.

"If we are now in that situation then it's in the public interest that there is an open debate about ... the manner in which it is going to happen and who is going to take responsibility for it."

"The first occasion it's been used has been such a complete disaster that Parliament and the Home Affairs Select Committee must look into this," he added.

The police say the "shoot-to-kill" policy is necessary to protect the public from potential suicide bombers.

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