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Resign, Scotland Yard chief told

LONDON: The head of Scotland Yard, Ian Blair, was on Friday under growing pressure to resign after a damning court verdict over the killing of an innocent Brazilian youth, Charles de Menezes, who was shot dead by the police at a London Tube station two years ago on suspicion of carrying a bomb.

After a five-week trial, a jury at Old Bailey found the metropolitan police, led by Sir Ian, guilty of a series of “catastrophic” failings leading to the shooting of the 27-year-old electrician from Brazil on July 22, 2005 as he got on to a train at Stockwell station.

Trial judge Justice Henriques noted that some of the “failings” had been “simply beyond explanation.” The entire operation was riddled with inexplicable blunders resulting in an innocent man being mistaken for a terrorist.

The incident, which hit headlines around the world, took place in the aftermath of the July 7 London bombings as police hunted for an alleged suicide bomber to prevent another attack.

The trial followed an inquiry by the Independent Police Commission which confirmed that police “misled” the public about the circumstances surrounding the cold-blooded killing.

It also held that Sir Ian did not make sufficient efforts to find out the truth about the shooting, and for 24 hours the public was fed on a version of events that turned out to be false.

In the wake of the inquiry, the Crown Prosecution Service charged the office of the police commissioner with failing to ensure the safety of Menezes and the public while carrying out their anti-terror operation that day.

The court verdict, which included a fine of £1,75,000 against the police, prompted calls for Sir Ian to step down. Opposition MPs and human rights groups said his position had become “untenable.”

But Sir Ian vowed to stay on saying: “This case provides no evidence at all of the systematic failure by the Metropolitan Police. I am going to go back to New Scotland Yard to get on with my job.”

Downing Street said Prime Minister Gordon Brown had full confidence in Sir Ian but observers suggested that if pressure continued to mount he might find it difficult to retain his job.

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