Inquest adjourned until 2006

2005-08-23 15:07

London - An independent police complaints panel said on Tuesday it will finish a report into the fatal London shooting of a Brazilian man wrongly suspected of being a suicide bomber by the end of the year.

But the Independent Police Complaints Commission's (IPCC) findings would not be published until all other proceedings linked to the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, were completed, a lawyer for the IPCC said.

The news came as a delegation from Brazil continued a trip to London to find out more about the electrician's death at the hands of anti-terrorist officers as he boarded a subway train at a station in south London on July 22.

The incident happened when tensions in the British capital were running high in the wake of the deadly bombings on London transport on July 7.

Relatives demand a public inquiry

Outraged relatives have already demanded a public inquiry.

Lawyers for the De Menezes family, however, said they were relieved to hear a concrete timetable had been set for the IPCC probe, which made headlines after leaked information contradicted initial claims made about the shooting.

The inquest into De Menezes's death, meanwhile, was adjourned until February 23 2006.

Richard Latham, a lawyer for the IPCC, told an administrative inquest hearing in London: "There is an intention to report before Christmas (December 25).

"No one would expect an investigation such as this to be hurried. It must be wide-ranging and conducted with very considerable care."

Inquiry confidential

Latham said the inquiry would remain confidential for the time being.

"There is no intention on the part of the IPCC of providing what might be described as a running commentary on the progress of the investigation," he told Inner South district coroner's court in Southwark.

The lawyer also hinted at the possibility of criminal or disciplinary proceedings being initiated.

John Cummins, IPCC senior investigating officer, also spoke at the hearing.

He said the metropolitan police had given investigators a "comprehensive handover package. There is a considerable amount of fresh work to be done."

Family not at hearings

No members of the De Menezes family were present at the hearing, but one of its lawyers who attended, Marcia Willis-Stewart, said afterwards the relatives were keen for the police to forge on with their work.

Also keen for answers, the Brazilian government sent Wagner Goncalves, from the attorney general's department, Marcio Pereira Pinto Garcia, from the justice ministry, and ambassador Manoel Gomes Pereira, director of the department for Brazilians resident abroad, to London to gather information.

At Monday's meeting officers explained what they had told the family and the Brazilian consulate in the wake of the shooting. They also reiterated an apology.

A memorial mass for De Menezes is scheduled to take place at a church in east London at 19:30.

- AFP