The IPCC inquiry

After Jean Charles de Menezes was shot at Stockwell underground station on 22 July 2005, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) was obliged by law to refer the incident to the IPCC. His death was referred to the Commission on Monday 25 July.

The start of the IPCC investigation was delayed because on 22 July 2005, Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, wrote to Sir John Gieve, the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office to say that he had given instructions that the shooting should not be referred to the IPCC, and that the IPCC should not be given access to the scene. This correspondence is available on the Home Office website.

This decision was not accepted and the decision was reversed. The incident was referred to the IPCC on 25 July and an organised handover was completed by 27 July 2005, when the IPCC investigation began.

Appeal for witnesses, 2005

The investigation was overseen by the IPCC, Chair, Nick Hardwick. Prior to joining the IPCC, Nick Hardwick was Chief Executive of the Refugee Council, before which he ran the charity Centrepoint. He was reappointed to his IPCC post in 2008.

Nick Hardwick appointed IPCC Senior Investigator John Cummins to lead the investigation. John Cummins had retired from Cambridgeshire Police in 2004 as the Detective Superintendent in charge of the Professional Standards Department. He was formerly a senior investigating officer and had completed 30 years police service.

John Cummins was supported by Steve Reynolds – a Detective Chief Superintendent, formerly the Head of Essex CID and an experienced senior investigating officer. He was seconded to assist the Stockwell investigation prior to retiring from Essex Police on 31 August 2005 following 31 years service. Steve Reynolds now works for the IPCC as a Senior Investigator.

John Cummins and Steve Reynolds worked with a team of investigators from a variety of police and non-police backgrounds.

Six trained major incident room staff and 17 investigators worked on the case for the first five months and substantial resources were allocated as and when required for the next two years.

More than 650 people featured in our investigation and the IPCC team took on more than 800 actions relating to the various lines of the inquiry. This included taking statements and recovering evidence and other material to support the trial and inquest.

In addition, nearly 890 witness statements were taken from police, forensic experts and civilian witnesses, and more than 800 exhibits were recovered.

Nick Hardwick visits the scene, 2005

All of these documents and statements had to be checked and redacted, where necessary, for the inquest proceedings. The IPCC consulted the Metropolitan Police to ensure that nothing sensitive was released inadvertently. Names had to be made anonymous before the trial and the inquest – for example, Ralph, Edward. Call signs also had to be substituted – for example, Charlie 5 – to comply with orders that had been made.

The investigation cost £383,000.  This did not include IPCC’s legal or publicity staff time.

The investigation was completed in six months. It began on 27 July 2005 and the report was submitted to the CPS on 19 January 2006. After that, the IPCC worked closely with the CPS to provide any further information required. Three IPCC investigators attended the health and safety trial at the Old Bailey.