TOLD YOU SO(*) --that British cop HAYMAN is a MOSSAD mole:
London police misled public after shooting, panel finds
By Jane Perlez
Published: August 2, 2007
LONDON The London police misinformed the British public about the identity of an innocent man shot and killed by the police at a subway station the day after an attempted terror attack in London in 2005, an investigation by a police monitoring group concluded Thursday.
The finding says that an assistant police commissioner knew that the police had mistaken a Brazilian electrician for a suicide bomber but failed to tell the police commissioner, Ian Blair, thus allowing erroneous reports to be perpetuated in the British media.
Television and newspaper reports after the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, on the morning of July 22, 2005, said that he had been wearing a bulky jacket and appeared to be one of the terrorists who had tried to detonate knapsacks laden with explosives on three subway trains and a bus.
But a chronology by the Independent Police Complaints Commission shows that three hours after the shooting information from the mobile phone of the victim, who was shot eight times, showed names of Latin rather than Arabic or Asian origin.
Shortly after 3 p.m., Sir Ian's staff knew that a Brazilian had been shot and by 4:15 p.m. his staff was discussing among themselves the public impact if the man was found to be innocent. But at 3:30 p.m. that day, the police commissioner had told a press conference that the dead man was "directly linked to the ongoing and expanding anti-terrorist operation," the report found.
The report laid the blame for the misinformation on the assistant commissioner who was second in charge, Andrew Hayman. The watchdog group said that Hayman had failed to tell the commissioner what was known about de Menezes as the information unfolded, and that he had personally approved a police news release on the evening of July 22 stating it was "not yet clear" whether the shot man had been one of the bombers of July 21.
But adding to the confused information issued by the police, the report said that at 4:30 p.m. on July 22 Hayman had told a select group of reporters who specialize in police affairs and belong to the Crime Reporters' Association that the dead man was in fact not one of the four bombers.
The commissioner was kept in the dark about the rapidly emerging information about the identity of de Menezes and was not told of the man's identity until the morning of July 23, about 24 hours after the shooting, the report says.
The nature of the report allowed Blair to announce Thursday at a news conference that he had not lied to the public.
"I have always made it clear that it was not my intention to mislead and, that if I had lied, I would not be fit to hold this office," he said. "I did not lie."
He also said he retained confidence in Hayman. Disciplinary action against Hayman would be considered by the Metropolitan Police Authority, Blair said.
The watchdog group said that Hayman had chosen to "mislead the public by his actions at 5 p.m. at the July 22 management board sub-meeting."
"He was instrumental in the wording of the 6:44 p.m. press release which stated it was not clear if the deceased was one of the four wanted suicide bombers from the previous day."
Once the identity of de Menezes became clear, his shooting sent shock waves through the British public already traumatized by successful suicide bombings on the London transit system on July 7, 2005, that resulted in the deaths of 52 commuters.
The Brazilian's family filed the complaint that led to the report Thursday. They reacted angrily to what they considered the lenient treatment of senior British police officers. A cousin of de Menezes's, Alessandro Pereira said the report showed that the "police were a shambolic mess and that senior officers should be held to account."
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