London police deny cover up

2005-08-21 08:15

London - London's police chief Ian Blair, in an interview with a Sunday newspaper, said 24 hours passed before he knew that a man shot dead by armed police as a suspected suicide bomber was in fact innocent.

Blair told the News of the World that he first learned that Brazilian national Jean Charles de Menezes was not linked with the London bombings when a colleague told him that there was "a lack of connection".

He recalled thinking: "That's dreadful, what are we going to do about that?"

Relatives of the 27-year-old electrician - shot in the tense days after the July 7 bombings and a failed attempt on July 21 to repeat them - have called for Blair to resign as Metropolitan Police commissioner.

Blair this week denied allegations of a cover-up after documents leaked to ITV television sharply contradicted the initial version of events given by police and witnesses.

Blair told the News of the World: "Somebody came in at 10:30 (on July 23) and said the equivalent of 'Houston, we have a problem'."

"He didn't use those words, but he said, 'We have some difficulty here, there is a lack of connection'."

"I thought, 'That's dreadful, what are we going to do about that?'."

Home secretary Charles Clarke defended Blair, saying the Metropolitan Police had done "very well" in response to the worst terrorist attacks ever on British soil in terms of loss of life.

"I am very happy with the conduct, not only of Sir Ian Blair, but the whole Metropolitan Police in relation to this inquiry," he told the BBC.

"From the public order events through to the investigation of the terrible atrocities on July 7 and 21 the Metropolitan Police have done very well."

Mr Clarke added: "Obviously the death of De Menezes is a terrible tragedy as everybody acknowledges, and it needs to be very properly and fully investigated, which is what the Independent - I emphasise the 'independent' - Police Complaints Commission is doing and will do."

- SAPA