More troubles for the IPCC
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IPCC says now is not the time to pass judgment on shooting, which was prelude to rioting across England
Even worse is
In a piece for the Guardian's comment pages, Scott says IPCC errors led him to lose faith in its investigation.
the whole of the comment piece is a pretty terrible indictment of the failures of this investigation - and set against the less than stellar records of the IPCC, CO19 and the Met is too depressing for words.
Some particulary horrifying excerpts include:
The IPCC has broken its own guidelines by giving out erroneous information to journalists regarding the "shoot-out" involving Duggan and police that didn't actually happen. And its investigation is flawed and in all probability tainted – so much so that we can never have faith in its final report.
I discovered, within the community, that the minicab from which Duggan was taken seconds before he was shot, had been moved from the scene. This was long before the arrival of the IPCC investigators. When I brought this to the IPCC commissioner's attention she confessed to not knowing anything about it. This was some two months into the investigation. We were later informed by her that the police had wanted to give the vehicle back to its owner, and there was no forensic data on it.
It was later revealed that there was, in fact, forensic and other evidence, of major significance, in and on the vehicle. We were also told that the IPCC investigators had demanded it be brought back to the scene. Weeks after these revelations, we were told by a very embarrassed IPCC commissioner that her own investigators had sanctioned the removal of the vehicle – before they had even reached the crime scene.
It took three months for this to be revealed. It also took three weeks for the IPCC to realise that it had wrongly told journalists that police had been involved in a shoot-out with Duggan. We all know the impact that piece of misinformation has had, not only on Tottenham but on the whole country.
I believe that in removing the minicab from the scene, the police have clearly compromised the evidence. Given that the IPCC sanctioned the vehicle's removal, the entire investigation is now in doubt.
and
There is one final piece of outstanding investigative work that we need to put into the public arena. We were told that at least three officers had given a statement that they had witnessed another officer, a sergeant, throwing away the gun that was later found several feet from Duggan's body. When we sought to identify the officers involved, we were told there was no evidence to support the allegation – that this statement was in fact never given. Yet we were informed by the commissioner that it had been.
So we have misleading press releases, uncertain chains of investigative command, evidence changes, tragically it's like de Menezes all over again.
