Gay officer heats up tube shooting debate

A senior gay police officer has revealed he may pursue legal action against the Metropolitan police to defend claims that a member of Met chief Sir Ian Blair’s private team knew the Stockwell Tube shooting victim Charles de Menezes was an innocent man just six hours after his death.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Brian Paddick believes he is being accused of lying after the Met said that rumours of a senior officer knowing Mr Menezes was wrongfully shot just six hours after his death were untrue.

The officer may face a probe from The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) for leaking the information.

He told the BBC that he had made the original statement to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which said a member of the head of the Met’s office believed the wrong man had been targeted just six hours after the shooting in July.

However, Scotland Yard yesterday released a statement insisting the claims were “simply not true.”

They said the officer “has categorically denied this in his interview with, and statement to, the IPCC investigators, this has also been corroborated by other staff in the private office.”

“We are satisfied that whatever the reasons for this suggestion being made, it is simply not true.”

Mr Paddick said that it sounded like he was being accused of lying.

Sir Ian Blair, who is currently under an IPCC investigation over lying to the public over the shooting, has stood by claims he did not know an innocent man had been targeted until the next day. Mr Menezes was shot dead on July 22 at Stockwell station after officers mistook him for a terrorist suspect.

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