Jean Charles de Menezes, Mikey Powell and this week we learn of two people spending years in Guantanamo Bay. All apparently innocent, but the first two dead.
In the case of the first two not only were the killings bungled, what happened in the aftermath continues the sorry tale. Looks as if someone is now taking the rap over the Stockwell tube shooting.
I wondered if they’d got the right guy at the very beginning. What went on subsequently in attempts to cover tracks with Met Commander Ian Blair kept in blissful ignorance. We learn that the duty officer on watch outside de Menezes apartment was of having a pee at a crucial moment. What we’re learning now is that there are more victims who have suffered at the hands of the police while the investigation into the handling of the affair has been going on.

I thanks Ian Johnson from the SLP for bringing my attention to a comment in the Guardian entitled “Getting away with Murder”:
“For the uncovering of what really happened we have to thank Lana
Vandenberghe, who paid the price for revealing the truth, as her leak formed the basis of
an ITV News investigation into the shooting of de Menezes. She lost her job at
the IPCC, was evicted by her landlady, arrested and treated harshly by the
police. The harassment caused by the whole episode turned her into a recluse. She
wasn’t the only one. ITV News producer Neil Garrett and his girlfriend – the link between Vandenberghe and Garrett – were arrested.
They both spent hours in a cell and were bailed on a few occasions. While
inside, Garrett’s pregnant girlfriend was deprived of food and drink, and
given a blanket full of lice. Unknown to him at the time, Garrett’s flat was
raided and turned upside down. But thanks to these individuals, and despite the
police’s attempts at obfuscation, the public now know that de Menezes
looked anything but a terrorist, and was just an innocent man like anyone of us,
caught up in the irresponsible actions of the police.”