Menezes Investigation Flawed From The Start

A shocking revelation about the investigation into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes on the London tube at Stockwell last July comes at the end of this BBC report about how the Menezes family are being kept informed.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission chairman, Nick Hardwick, says that although the IPCC has had full access to those in agencies outside the police, the IPCC does not have power to refer those who do not work for the police to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Since I am not aware of any police criminal investigation into the shooting, it looks as if those outside the police who might have had criminal liability may never be considered for prosecution: not only will the IPCC refrain from putting together the pieces it has with respect to them, but it may not even have bothered to collect the pieces in the first place, and who else will have done so instead?

It suggests the IPCC is inadequate to deal with cases where the police are not the only party to a possible crime.