De Menezes: Cops arrest woman

2005-09-25 21:57

London - A woman has been arrested in connection with the leak of confidential documents from a probe into the death of a Brazilian who was shot by police mistaking him for a suicide bomber, police said on Sunday.

The woman was arrested on Wednesday at one of a number of addresses searched in London based on warrants "connected with the leak of confidential documents" from the probe into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes.

The 43-year-old woman was later released on bail pending further inquiries, police said.

Leicestershire police have been investigating the leak after the ITV News channel ran details of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) inquiry into the Brazilian's death at a London subway station on July 22.

In a statement, Leicestershire police said the operation that led to the woman's arrest was carried out with the help of London police.

It isn't known whether the woman was an employee of the IPCC or ITV News.

No details were given on the grounds for the arrest.

The leaked documents, including witness statements, police accounts and photographs, conflicted with initial accounts about the shooting of the 27-year-old electrician and revealed a series of alleged police blunders.

De Menezes was shot dead on a train in a south London subway station on July 22, one day after a failed attempt to repeat the London bombings of July 7 that left 56 people dead, including four apparent suicide bombers.

London's Metropolitan Police chief, Ian Blair, insisted that there had been no attempt to hide the facts surrounding the death, which brought to light a secret shoot-to-kill policy adopted by the police when chasing a suspected suicide bomber.

But the leaked reports have triggered calls from de Menezes's supporters for Blair to resign as he failed to rectify incorrect information about the killing from initial police accounts and witness reports.

The leaked pictures showed de Menezes in a light denim jacket rather than a coat big enough to conceal a bomb as suggested in earlier reports, and that he was not behaving suspiciously, as Scotland Yard had earlier implied.

Rather than running away from police, jumping a ticket barrier and stumbling onto the train, the images revealed that de Menzes entered Stockwell subway station calmly with a ticket, picked up a free newspaper and only finally broke into a run to catch his train, which was standing on the platform.

He was then apparently restrained by a police officer before being shot eight times in the head and shoulder at point blank range.

- SAPA