Letter from MPA to Attorney General about health and safety prosecution of MPS

The following is a letter sent by the MPA, to the Attorney General the Rt Hon The Lord Goldsmith QC about the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decision to prosecute the Metropolitan Police Service for an alleged breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, arising out of the investigation into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes on 22 July 2005.

The Rt Hon The Lord Goldsmith QC
Attorney General
Attorney General's Chambers
9 Buckingham Gate
London SW1E 6JPE

4 August 2006

Dear Lord Goldsmith

I am writing to you about the decision made by the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute the Office of the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis for an alleged breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act etc 1974, arising out of the IPCC investigation into the death of Mr Jean Charles de Menezes on 22 July 2005.

The Authority discussed this matter at its meeting on 27 July 2006. The Authority expressed grave concerns about the proposed prosecution and required me to write to make you aware of those concerns and to request that in the public interest you give further consideration to this prosecution.

I should emphasise that the Authority is absolutely convinced that there should be full and proper accountability for the tragic death of Mr de Menezes. This is necessary in the interests of justice for the deceased and his family, and in the interests of public reassurance and confidence in the policing of London. The Authority is however not persuaded that the intended prosecution under the 1974 Act will be in the public interest overall nor that it will provide a process for comprehensive, effective, and transparent consideration of all the relevant issues surrounding and arising out of the events of 22 July 2005.

The prosecution will inevitably delay the eventual publication of the IPCC investigation, which will undermine confidence in the independent complaints investigation process. The lack of official information in the public domain, as opposed to widely publicised yet partial leaks, about the events of July 2005, combined with absence so far of any reasoned explanation of the decisions reached by the Crown Prosecution Service, also combine to undermine confidence in the police and prosecuting authorities. The Authority is fundamentally concerned to ensure the public has confidence in the Metropolitan Police's ability to provide effective public protection in a time of grave threat, and it does not see that the intended prosecution will serve that purpose well.

The prosecution is of significance for policing at large. It has the potential to upset all notions of the nature of the policing task and to impair the readiness and capacity of police to respond to unforeseen or hazardous situations in the way the public expects. Furthermore, if the prosecution were to result in a conviction, the impact will fall on the police budget and the consequence could be a reduction in police services; in other words it would be the people of London who suffer the penalty.

Against the background of these concerns, the Authority makes the following requests for urgent action by you and the Government:

First, that you reconsider whether this prosecution should proceed, or whether there is a better alternative by way of a public and less adversarial mechanism for establishing what happened on 22 July 2005 and why; and for learning the lessons from the events of that day in a manner that will engender strengthened public protection and public reassurance.

Second, that you initiate urgent steps, in conjunction with the Home Secretary, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the IPCC, with a view to securing the earliest possible publication of the IPCC Report, together with a full and reasoned explanation of the decisions made by the CPS as announced on 17 July in relation to the prosecution of individuals. The MPA considers that the present arrangements for publication of investigation reports and prosecution decisions have not served the family of the deceased, or the public interest, very well in this case, and that those arrangements need to be reviewed for the future.

Third, that you take steps, in conjunction with the Home Secretary, for a further urgent review of the application of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 to operational policing. The publication of the draft Corporate Manslaughter Bill underlines the need for a comprehensive review of a problem that has been allowed to remain unresolved for far too long.

Whilst writing I should add that considerable publicity arose from the MPA meeting, in which members individually expressed forthright views. Many comments were wrongly attributed to the Commissioner, whose remarks were, as you would expect, much more limited.

I am copying this letter to the Home Secretary, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Chair of the IPCC, the President of ACPO, the Chair of the APA, and to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. I am also sending a copy to Birnberg Pierce who are representing the family of Jean Charles de Menezes.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely

Catherine Crawford
Chief Executive

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