Shoot to Kill Policy in UK - Like many of the subjects I am covering in this book, the youth of today whether in the UK, USA, Europe or even Ireland itself, have no idea as to what has taken place on their own streets and not long before they were born, - and I feel it‘s important that that this age group is made aware of these facts, and that perhaps can help us in maintaining a better future. - In the BBC‘s Panorama programme - Peter Taylor gave a definitive account of the hugely controversial alleged shoot-to-kill policy, Operation Kratos, - that led to the tragic killing of a Brazilian man at Stockwell Tube station on the 22nd July 2005. [1] Jean Charles de Menezes was only 27 years old when shot dead by members of the Metropolitan Police‘s elite CO19 firearms team. Panorama investigated Kratos evolvement, and how the operation went so drastically wrong. The programme tried to explain what really happened that day, and interviewed senior Met officers involved in the evolution and implementation of Kratos and filmed of CO19‘s training, the programme explored the wider issues raised by Stockwell and followed the de Menezes family from Brazil to London in their quest for justice. [2]
The IPCC, said the officers would not face a police tribunal over the July 22nd 2005 killing [3] of this totally innocent young man who they shot, not once, twice, three, four, five, six or even seven times, but eight times in his head, - and that no one has had to answer, or be found accountable for his death. - Two officers fired a total of eleven shots according to the number of empty shell casings found on the floor of the train afterwards. Menezes was shot eight times in the head and once in the shoulder at close range, and died at the scene. An eyewitness later said that the eleven shots were fired over a thirty second period, at three second intervals. A separate witness reported hearing five shots, followed at an interval by several more shots. [4]
No officer‘s face charges in which looks like another cover-up as no police officers will be charged over the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, prosecutors announced on the 13/2/2009, following a review of evidence from the inquest into his death. The decision finally cleared the commanders in the alleged bungled police operation and the two marksmen involved. An inquest jury found that catastrophic failures by police led to the killing of de Menezes, who was mistakenly identified as a suicide bomber.
They returned an open verdict - rejecting the option of deciding that de Menezes was lawfully killed. They also dismissed the accounts of marksmen, known as C2 and C12, who claimed they had shouted a warning before shooting him, and that he had advanced aggressively towards them. [5]
As other independent witnesses had said; ―...no such thing had occurred, no warning was given by the police, nor was de Menezes showing any form of aggression towards any of the attacking officers‖. It was the most damaging outcome possible for the Metropolitan Police after the coroner and Sir Michael Wright, had earlier ruled out the possibility of an unlawful killing verdict. Then the CPS lawyers, reviewing the evidence for a second time since the shooting in July 2005, said that; ―No new evidence emerged to warrant a prosecution‖. Freemason Stephen O‘Doherty, of the CPS Special Crime Division, said: ―I have now concluded that there is insufficient evidence that any offence was committed by any individual officers in relation to the tragic death of Mr de Menezes. In reaching this decision, I considered whether the officers known as C2 and C12 acted in self defence in shooting Mr de Menezes and also whether they lied to the inquest about what was said and done immediately before the shooting. - The answers the jury provided to specific questions they were asked by the coroner made it clear, albeit to a civil standard, that the jury did not accept the officers accounts of what happened.
However, although there were some inconsistencies in what the officers said at the inquest, there were also inconsistencies in what passengers had said. I concluded that in the confusion of what occurred on the day, a jury could not be sure that any officer had deliberately given a false account of events. - I also considered the actions of the individual officers in the police management team on that day and considered whether there was sufficient evidence to charge any of them with gross negligence manslaughter. There was no fresh evidence from the inquest which caused me to change my original decision that there was insufficient evidence to do so. I have today written to the de Menezes family explaining my decision‖. [6]
Now how on earth can we rely on any of these kind of people in positions of power, - in trusted positions to establish the truth, how is it, in this instance Stephen O‘Doherty of the CPS Special Crime Division come out with such blatant bullshit, and then to rub salt into the wound, get clean away with it? - The de Menezes family, who said they felt vindicated by the inquest jury‘s findings, are said to be unhappy and equally devastated that no action will be taken against those who murdered there innocent son. They had accused the Masonic coroner of failing on every count to ensure justice was done, because of the severe limitations he had placed on the jury‘s deliberations. - Again we have to question; - why did he, and more importantly how is he allowed to do so?
And another strange thing that seems to miraculously coincide with these kind of unusual killings and cases,- and yet despite living in a totally controlled world of CCTV, - the vital CCTV film footage either goes missing, or claims then rise of faulty equipment or technical problems etc. CCTV apparently wasn‘t working in the Pont de l‘Alma tunnel, thus no video footage could conveniently show any vehicles either entering or exiting the tunnel, on the night Lady Diana and Dodi Fayed were killed on the 31/8/1999. It was said no video tape was in the machine at the time of the Oklahoma Bombing, allegedly carried out by Timothy McVeigh in 1995. On the 9/11 attacks on the US, over 80 CCTV film footages were confiscated and held by the FBI, despite there being evidence as to what really might have crashed into the Pentagon on that day. Not one single piece of footage from CCTV cameras exists, or if it does, has never been shown, - showing us any of the alleged passengers at any of the three separate airports on 9/11, either queuing up, or anything else people normally do at a airport, and it‘s as if none of them even existed, - and there a lot of truth in that. Every trained terrorist, or skilled armed robber knows the first thing to do, is to disable and remove any evidence from the targets CCTV system.
In regards to the de Menezes case, initial media reports suggested that no CCTV footage was available from the Stockwell station, as recording tapes/CD‘s had not been replaced after being removed for examination the previous day before the suspected attempted bombings.
Other reports stated that faulty cameras on the platform were the reason for the lack of video evidence.
Though to help throw us the public off the scent, as no one could really believe there was no kind of video footage whatsoever of such a busy station area, there was all of a sudden an ―anonymous‖ source confirming that CCTV footage was available for the ticket area, but that there was a problem with the platform coverage. The source also and again conveniently suggested that there was no useful CCTV footage from the platform or the train carriage.
Extracts from a later police report stated that examination of the platform cameras had produced no footage. It said: ―It has been established that there has been a technical problem with the CCTV equipment on the relevant platform and no footage exists‖. [7] It also reported there was no footage from CCTV in the carriage where de Menezes was shot, saying; ―Although there was on-board CCTV in the train, due to previous incidents, the hard drive had been removed and not replaced‖.
The platform CCTV system is maintained by the Tube Lines Consortium in charge of maintaining the Northern Line, however unofficial [shit-scared] sources from inside the company insisted that the cameras were in working order. It was also reported, that London Underground sources insisted that at least three of the four cameras trained on the Stockwell Tube platform were in full working order, and rejected suggestions that the cameras had not been fitted with new tapes after police took away footage from the previous day, [8] the 21st July 2005, when suspects in the failed bombings caught trains there. - So who do we believe? Ordinary London Transport staff, with no allegiance, - or the government controlled Police?
What‘s happened to our country and our world? - Who‘s in control, turning a blind eye and letting it all occur, and who‘s inadvertently advocating this evil in the first place? Well these questions are some of the reasons for writing this book, as I‘m hoping I can help build a bigger picture to show where and whom the orders are coming from, and as to why they want use all living in fear.
In May 2008-Chelsea CO19 are called to Chelsea, London, where Mark Saunders, [9] a defence barrister, was locked in his luxury flat after opening fire at his neighbour‘s houses with a shotgun. After a tense standoff, during which Saunders exchanged fire with C019 officers, he was shot several times by marksmen. Taking no chances, CO19 stormed the flat, throwing in stun grenades and tear gas canisters.
Mr Saunders was taken outside so he could be given medical assistance but it was too late as he was already dead from his wounds. Saunders family say that the IPCC has accepted that it did not seize all the relevant accounts from police officers about the shooting more than a month afterwards - allowing a long time to confer, - but only after Charlotte Saunders, the barrister‘s sister, won permission on the 17th July 2008 at the High Court for a judicial review of an ongoing investigation into the shooting being carried out
by the IPCC. [10] The family claim that when Mr Saunders, was shot on the 6th May 2008, he had not fired his weapon for around 20 minutes. The legal papers also claim that a negotiator talking to the gunman was impeded by the noise of the police helicopters and say there were repeated recorded requests by officers for the helicopters to move away so that negotiations could continue - including ten seconds before Mr Saunders was fatally wounded.
Now this shows you how insincere many of the police officers are, and who are in fact often itching to blow someone‘s brains out. A Metropolitan police firearms officer who may have fired the deadly shot that killed Mark Saunders was removed from firearms duty after allegedly inserting song titles into his oral evidence at the dead man‘s inquest. [11] The IPCC confirmed it is investigating the unnamed officer, who gave evidence as Alpha Zulu 8 or AZ8, after it emerged that he had been reprimanded by his superior shortly after giving evidence on the 27th September 2010. An examination of the transcript shows that evidence given by AZ8 contained a number of phrases which are also the titles of songs, including Enough is Enough by Donna Summer, Point of No Return by Buzzcocks, Line of Fire by Journey, Quiet Moments by Chris de Burgh, Kicking Myself by As Tall As Lions and Fuck My Old Boots by the Membranes.
Again what might be new news to some people, is old hat to others, [12] as many a police officer will know this kind of playacting has been done hundreds of times throughout many people‘s trials, as we used to do it at work when I sold photocopiers and computers, as did some radio DJ‘s, when during their shows, when in their case, they would have to get the person to unknowingly say the title to certain well known song. As in the case of me and my workmates, we would say stupid things such as; ―Can I speak to Mr Head please‖, and the receptionist would look down the list of names, and reply; ―Sorry Sir, we don‘t have a Mr Head working here‖, and we‘d go on and say; ―What you talking about, Dicks one of the bosses who owns your company dear lady, if I were you, I‘d ask a another member of staff about Mr Head, they might know him as Richard, but his my mate, so I call him Dick‖. And if the receptionist didn‘t twig on you was asking to speak to ―dickhead‖, and she went away to ask a colleague, you ―won‖ the bet. But how could anyone do this in such tragic circumstances, and just goes to show you how much they really value someone‘s life, don‘t respect the law they‘re supposed to represent, nor care about the validity of the trials to begin with, to the majority, and not just a few bad apples, it‘s ‗all just a game‘ to them.
On 2/6/2006 in Forest Gate London- Operation Volga - 250 Police Officers, spearheaded by CO19 SFO‘s, raided an address in Lansdown Road, Forest Gate, London. Intelligence from MI5 suggested that the house, home to Muslim brothers Abul Kahar Kalam and Abul Koyair Kalam, contained terrorist materials, possibly including chemical/biological weapons, and, accordingly, CO19 wore protective suits on this operation. During the operation, Abul Kahar Kalam was wounded by a single shot from one of the CO19 officers. Initial reports claimed that the shot, from an HK MP5, was accidental, the result of a struggle on the stairs between the CO19 officer and Mr Kahar. Speculation remains that the bulky protective suits worn by CO19 may have contributed to the accidental discharge. [9] If that was the genuine cause, then why hadn‘t they sussed out this kind of problem long before this particular raid? Operation Volga caused controversy, not just due to the shooting but also because no terrorist material was discovered and the two brothers were cleared of any terrorism offences. An IPCC investigation was to later clear [how often are we to hear this], the CO19 officer who had fired the shot of any wrong doing.
Controversy also surrounds reports that MI5 had relied on a single informer [who may had perhaps had a vendetta or dispute with the brothers] when raising the alarm about the two brothers.
James Ashley was a 39-year-old man who was shot dead by armed police while unarmed and naked and whom had been asleep in bed with his girlfriend during a raid on his flat at 4am in St Leonards, Hastings on the 15/1/1998.[13] Ashley had been involved in a bar brawl stabbing several months earlier, although only in so much as a friend of his attacked someone else before Ashley pulled him away.[14] The officers were instructed to search the flat using the high risk ―Bermuda method‖ favoured for dealing with terrorism. But in typical Keystone Kop‘s fashion, they had no plans of the interior, which meant officers had bumped into an ironing board and had been delayed as they had to force open an unexpected communal door. When PC Christopher Sherwood stepped into the darkened room on his first ever armed raid, he alleged he thought Mr Ashley was attacking him, so shot him and at close range. Mr Ashley‘s girlfriend Caroline Courtland-Smith, who was 18 at the time, said Mr Ashley had been walking towards the door to investigate noises they had heard. PC Sherwood was subsequently charged with murder and manslaughter.
But in May 2001, he was cleared at the Old Bailey on the judge‘s direction. Again we have to question, why is it in cases as such as this, do these kind of judges and those with such power of influence, keep interfering with the due process of the law, and why do they not just leave it to us the public to decided
what is and what isn‘t true, unjust or unfair and leave it to the evidence to speak for itself, and for the jury to return with the right and just verdict? The judge agreed that he had fired in self-defence believing, mistakenly, that he himself was about to be shot. Why was this rookie allowed to lead the field to begin, where they hoping he might get shot first? In March 2009 Sussex Police agreed to compensate and apologise to Ashley‘s family. The police admitted negligence, that there had been a series of police failures, but not unlawful killing. Ashley‘s son however maintained the killing was illegal, and these kind of intentional blunders have been going on for years.
Stephen Waldorf was a 26-year-old film editor who was shot and severely injured by Metropolitan Police officers in London, England on 14 January 1983, [15] when he was misidentified as an escaped prisoner, David Martin. Martin was rearrested shortly after the shooting and was found guilty at Old Bailey of the attempted murder of PC Nicolas Carr and was sentenced to life in prison. It‘s alleged he later committed suicide in his prison cell in 1984. PC Jardine and PC Finch stood trial for attempted murder and attempted wounding of Waldorf, but were cleared of all charges in October 1983. Waldorf eventually made a full recovery and was paid £120,000 compensation by the Metropolitan Police. - Open Fire, a TV drama about David Martin and the shooting of Stephen Waldorf, was made by London Weekend Television and shown on the ITV network on the 21st November 1994.
On the 22/9/1999 Harry Stanley was shot dead by police. Stanley was born in Bellshill, near Glasgow, Scotland and moved to London in the early 1970‘s in search of work. He married his childhood sweetheart, Irene and had three children, and grandchildren, and lived in Hackney, East London. The 46-year-old painter and decorator had only recently been released from hospital after an operation for colon cancer at the time of his death. On that fatal day he was returning home from the Alexandra pub in South Hackney carrying, in a plastic bag, a table leg that had been repaired by his carpenter brother earlier that day. It‘s alleged, someone had phoned the police to report; an Irishman with a gun wrapped in a bag.
Close to his home, Inspector Neil Sharman and PC Kevin Fagan, the crew of a Metropolitan Police Armed
Close to his home, Inspector Neil Sharman and PC Kevin Fagan, the crew of a Metropolitan Police Armed