The Latest Leaks From London ...

Drip, drip, drip. One after another, after another, the 'leaks' just keep on coming. Take a look at this latest one from London.

New claims emerge over Menezes death.
Brazilian was held before being shot.
Police failed to identify him.
He made no attempt to run away.

Shown above is the headline, sub header and lead in of a riveting Guardian revelation this morning, Wednesday 17th August 2005.

Shown below are 'the bones' of this startling story.

It has now emerged that Mr de Menezes:

* was never properly identified because a police officer was relieving himself at the very moment he was leaving his home;

* was unaware he was being followed;

* was not wearing a heavy padded jacket or belt as reports at the time suggested;

* never ran from the police;

* and did not jump the ticket barrier.

** But the revelation that will prove most uncomfortable for Scotland Yard was that the 27-year-old electrician had already been restrained by a surveillance officer before being shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder.

Now, while some of these things have been mentioned and/or rumoured before, by various parties in various publications -- this is the first time all the dots have been completely connected. And what a shocking and sickeningly sad state of affairs it shows -- so-called, security-wise.

What's more, the documentations' contents and contentions are clearly corroborated by CCTV camera footage.

The leaked documents and pictures showed the failures in the police operation from the time Mr de Menezes left home.

There's now no doubt about it -- as This Old Brit flagged right from the 'off', this whole thing stank to high heaven; indeed it still does. http://rickwrites.blogspot.com/2005/07/pcs-or-not-pcs-that-is-question.html

It was a cock up of epic proportions. Get a load of this -- and then gasp.

A surveillance officer admitted in a witness statement that he was unable to positively identify Mr de Menezes as a suspect because the officer had been - relieving himself - when the Brazilian left the block of flats where he lived.

Now gasp again at the absolutely, awesome arrogance of this utterly unbelievable announcement by the police authorities. What they're basically saying is, it's true -- but we're not admitting it's true. The absurdity's almost matched by their audacity

My God, the mind boggles.

A senior police source last night told the Guardian that the leaked documents and statements gave an accurate picture of what was known so far about the shooting. But the IPCC refused to confirm the documents were genuine adding: "Our priority is to disclose any findings direct to the family, who will clearly be distressed that they have received information on television concerning his death."

I ask you -- is that double talk or is that downright, diabolical double talk?

Talk about insulting people's intelligence.

So, hold onto your hat when hitting the links to learn lots more.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1550565,00.html

Then, there's more at the BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4159310.stm

Also, see this cross ref/related blog piece at Cultutre of Life News 11.
http://culturelifenewsbreaking.blogspot.com/2005/08/news-from-across-pond.html