Unlawful killing

'' Last Friday was a dark day for this country. So, of course, was 7 July. If we really are involved in a war of civilizations, let us be sure that our civilization is not destroyed in the battle, so that we end up little better than those who wish to ruin us.''

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Stephen Glover The Daily Mail 26 July 05

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Tony Blair this week added his voice to the official expressions of regret over the death of Jean Charles de Menezes in the anti-terrorist shooting error in London by the Metropolitan Police last week.

"At the same time therefore, in expressing our sorrow and deep sympathy for the death that has happened, it is important that we support them in doing the job they have to do in order to protect people in this country," he said.

Foreign secretary Jack Straw added: "I don't have any precise information about his immigration status here. My understanding is that he was here lawfully."

Maybe he was but clearly there was nothing lawful about the killing of Jean Charles de Manezes.

In fact there is now a shortage of precise official information as to why and how this young Brazilian electrician was killed by an armed Police Officer from the specialist CO 19 unit.

The best support that can be given to the British people in these difficult times of terrorist attacks is the knowledge that facts of this killing are not 'swept under the carpet'.

The British public need to know that the Police are not a law unto themselves in order that proper support can be given with confidence. The metropolitan Police commissioner in a recent statement admitted that ''this could easily happen again''. That is an appalling admission. It is Sir Ian Blair's duty to ensure that incidents like last Friday's do not happen again and if they do most certainly not easily and definitely not as an inevitable consequence of a series of basic police systems failure.

Perhaps now is a good time to ask: '' is our Police service (once referred to as the Police force) properly accountable with a workable complaints procedure.'' On current evidence one fears the answer is no.

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On Sunday this blog called for the resignation of Sir Ian Blair as well as the head of the Metropolitan Police's CO19 unit. A call that I repeated live on the BBC Radio Cleveland current affairs programs at 12.50 pm .

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This blog in the cause of all that we understand as British fair play repeats that call. The 52 murdered victim's families, of 7/7, the hundreds of injured, and the relatives of Jean Charles deserve no less. For God's sake this is Britain.