The usual whitewash

The Crown Prosecution Service's decision into the Stockwell shooting has been released, and as expected, its the usual whitewash. No police officer will be charged over Jean Charles de Menezes's death - not the officers who slowly and systematically shot him eight times in the head at close range, or their comrades who botched the surveillance and then tried to falsify evidence to hide the fact. Instead, police department will be prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work Act (the equivalent of OSH regulations) for "failing to provide for the health, safety and welfare" of Mr Menezes. Meanwhile, the Independent Police Complaints Commission's report into the shooting - on which the CPS decision is based, and which reportedly is highly critical of the police - remains secret. Thus does the British establishment protect its own.

This is simply insulting. A dead man is crying out for justice, and instead the British government is covering its own arse. Fortunately, the de Mezenes family aren't taking this lying down. Their next step will be to push for an inquest, and the full publication of the IPCC report. After that, they may either seek a judicial review of the CPS's decision, or even bring a private prosecution against the officers involved. If the government and authorities won't hold people accountable, then they'll just have to do it themselves...