Officer who challenged Met chief may lose job

A high profile Scotland Yard officer who has repeatedly clashed with his bosses over the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes faces being ousted from his job, the Guardian has learned.

Brian Paddick gave evidence to the official inquiry into the shooting of the Brazilian at Stockwell tube station last July, that challenged claims by his boss, the Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Ian Blair, and is also facing an allegation that he leaked information about the killing to a BBC journalist.

Mr Paddick told the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation into the commissioner’s conduct, that officials within Sir Ian’s own office feared the wrong man had been killed just hours after the shooting. Sir Ian has repeatedly said that he and his aides had no inkling until the morning of the next day that the man shot eight times by officers hunting suicide bombers was in fact innocent.
Within the past fortnight Mr Paddick has been told by his bosses that they want to move him out of his post as deputy chief of territorial policing in the capital, according to several sources. Scotland Yard chiefs have told Mr Paddick they want to move him to a role where he does not come into the force’s central London headquarters and has little contact with the public. He would be “put out to grass” until later this year when he reaches 30 years’ service and can retire on a full police pension. Talks between the two sides are continuing.

Jenny Jones, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority which oversees the force, said: “It does look like a punishment for the IPCC statement and the alleged leak. We will be asking questions about this.

“Whistleblowing is an important part of democracy, letting people know when misinformation is being given. We need to know if he’s being punished for whistleblowing or for something else.”

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said that discussions about the postings of senior officers were “always ongoing” and declined to discuss individual cases.