BRITAIN: Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair and other senior officers are facing an investigation into their conduct following the fatal shooting of innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell underground Tube station last July.
British home secretary Charles Clarke has approved the investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) following an official complaint by the family of Mr de Menezes.
They claim Sir Ian and other senior officers "misled" them and the public in the hours after the July 22nd shooting, in which police officers mistook the 27-year-old Brazilian for a suicide bomber.
Mr de Menezes was shot seven times in the head. On the day of the fatality Sir Ian said it was his understanding that the dead man had been challenged and refused to respond to his officers, who were responding to "unknown threats" following the July 7th bombings and the failed second wave of bombing attacks in the capital the day before.
Sir Ian subsequently said he had considered resigning his post, and that police should have scotched rumours that Mr de Menezes had been wearing a heavy jacket and had vaulted the barrier at Stockwell station.
In a statement last night Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Yates said the Met welcomed the appointment of an investigating officer and would be co-operating fully with the inquiry.
Mr Yates also stressed that while the further complaints raised by the family of Mr de Menezes clearly involved the commissioner, they were not solely about him.
"They specifically ask that the IPCC investigate where any misleading accounts relating to the tragic events of July 22nd originated from, and how and why they were put into the public domain," he said.
"The brief statements issued by the Metropolitan Police following the fatal shooting in Stockwell are a matter of public record. All of those involved will co-operate fully with the IPCC investigation."
The inquiry, which will be led by senior investigator Mike Grant, will be separate from the ongoing investigation into the circumstances of the shooting. IPCC chairman Nick Hardwick said: "Neither we nor Jean Charles's family want this complaint to distract us from the main task of finding out how and why Jean Charles died." And he confirmed they still expect to complete their investigation into the shooting by the end of December.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights group Liberty, said: "It's completely right that the media handling and the statements and comments that were made about the shooting are dealt with just as robustly as the police operation itself."