De Menezes shooting prosecution 'should be stopped'

LONDON - The health and safety prosecution of London police over the Jean Charles de Menezes shooting should be halted because it will delay any meaningful inquiry into the botched operation, a watchdog said today.

The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) said it would ask the attorney general and home secretary to question the decision to bring charges over the Brazilian's shooting.

One MPA member dismissed the health and safety probe as a "cop-out" that smacked of "political expediency".

Earlier this month, the officers who shot de Menezes in the mistaken belief he was a suicide bomber were told they would not face criminal charges.

Instead, London's police force will be prosecuted under health and safety laws, more usually used to resolve minor incidents in the workplace.

The move, branded "ridiculous" by the Brazilian's family, was also obliquely criticised by the Met's head Ian Blair.

"If this health and safety prosecution goes ahead, it will be a fundamental turning point in policing," he told the MPA meeting.

"This goes right to the heart of the policing mission," he added.

De Menezes was shot seven times in the head after he boarded an underground train at Stockwell tube station in south London.

The shooting on July 22 came amid frenzy in London over the threat of suicide attacks. Just 15 days earlier, four British Islamists had blown themselves up on underground trains and a bus, killing 52 commuters.

The circumstances of the shooting have been hotly disputed and the Brazilian has become a martyr figure for campaigners who accuse police of ignoring civil rights in their crackdown on terrorist suspects.

- REUTERS