British deputy prime minister backs police

LONDON: Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott on Sunday backed Britain’s under-fire top police officer over his handling of the Jean Charles de Menezes shooting. Asked if Metropolitan Police commissioner Ian Blair enjoyed his “full and unqualified” confidence, Prescott replied simply “yes”. But Prescott, in charge of the government while Prime Minister Tony Blair is on holiday, appeared to criticise the way the police force offered compensation to the dead 27-year-old’s family. The Met said Saturday it had offered 15,000 pounds as an “ex gratia” payment. The offer has been criticised for being written to the electrician’s family in tough legal English, as they speak only Portuguese. “I haven’t seen the letter and I think it would be terrible if it was done that way,” Prescott told BBC television. “It does sound not a very sensitive way to deal with such a difficult matter.” Prescott stressed the need to wait for the Independent Police Complaints Commission report into the shooting. “Let us deal with the serious issue of the circumstances surrounding the death of this young lad and then wait for the report on that,” he said. “Then I’ve no doubt there’ll be judgements to be made both in parliament and in the rest of the community about a whole manner of controversial issues that have been thrown up out of this tragic incident.” afp

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