Police row over stun gun use on bomb suspect

By Philippe Naughton,
Times Online

West Midlands Police went on the defensive today after receiving a televised dressing-down from the head of Scotland Yard for their officers' use of a Taser stun gun to immobilise a suspected suicide bomber in Birmingham.

Clearly piqued by the open criticism from Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, the force drew a direct comparison with the shooting in London of an innocent Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes.

Sir Ian said last night that Birmingham police had taken an "incredible risk" in using a Taser during their arrest of Yasin Hassan Omar two days ago because it could have set off any bomb he might have had on him. Omar has been named by police as the man who tried to set off a bomb on the Victoria Line near Warren Street Tube.

"It was an incredible risk to use a Taser on a suicide bomber because the Taser itself could set it off and that is not the policy," the Met chief said on a BBC television discussion programme. "I can’t imagine how that was used."

He added: "We use Tasers in London regularly but a Taser sends electric currents into the body of somebody. If there is a bomb on that body then the bomb can go off. I can’t imagine... it may be that it was clear there wasn’t a bomb, I don’t know what the situation was."

The criticism of another force's operational tactics - sharply at odds with usual police etiquette - appeared to take West Midlands police by surprise. But this morning the force issued a statement replying to the "apparent criticism" by Sir Ian.

"Every situation in which firearms are deployed is unique. The shooting of Mr de Menezes in London and the arrest of Yasin Hassan Omar in Birmingham may appear similar but they were separate incidents," the statement said.

"The information and intelligence would have been different, the threat level to officers and the public was different."

The statement then went on to deny that Sir Ian had actually criticised the West Midlands force at all. "The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police did not criticise West Midlands Police officers," it said. "During a television debate last night he talked generally about tactics relating to suicide bombers. However, he stressed ‘I do not know what the situation was’.

"The shooting of Mr De Menzes has been referred the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Commission) and we have also voluntarily referred the using of a Taser in the arrest of Yasin Hassan Omar to the IPCC. It's impossible to draw conclusions until these enquiries have been concluded."

On a day of recriminations, the man heading the IPCC investigation into the shooting of Senhor de Menezes reacted angrily to a Home Office decision to release details of the 27-year-old's immigration status.

Senhor de Menezes was shot eight times at close range at Stockwell Tube station last Friday after police mistook him for a suicide bomber. He was to be buried in his home state of Minas Gerais today.

The Home Office confirmed last night that Senhor de Menezes's visa had expired two years ago. In a cautiously worded statement, it also implied that a stamp in his passport giving him indefinite leave to remain in the UK was a forgery.

In reply, Nick Hardwick, the IPCC chairman, told the Home Office to "shut up" and stop releasing "partial information" until his investigation was complete.

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