BRITAIN: The family of Jean Charles de Menezes yesterday called on Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Ian Blair to "consider his position" after reports that officers covered up their part in the Brazilian's death.
Undercover police changed a surveillance log to hide the fact they had mistakenly identified the electrician as a suspected suicide bomber, it was claimed.
Mr de Menezes (27) was shot seven times in the head by anti-terror officers as he tried to board a train at Stockwell Tube station in south London the day after the abortive July 21st attacks.
The alleged cover-up meant blame for the tragedy would have been shifted to senior Scotland Yard commanders or the armed police who pulled the trigger, the News of the World reported.
Last night Asad Rehman, spokesman for the innocent Brazilian's family, said the allegations had "severely dented" confidence in Sir Ian Blair and his force.
He added: "Sir Ian Blair does need to seriously consider his own position today.
"It seems that Sir Ian Blair was not aware of any of this information for quite a while following Jean's death, which does raise certain questions about how in touch he was with the operation.
"Both then and today Sir Ian Blair is ultimately responsible for the safety of people in London and this country. It seems he didn't have his eye on the ball.
"We will ask him to examine his own conscience today. We believe this issue hasn't gone away." The News of the World claimed a "Whitehall source" had leaked details from the Independent Police Complaints Commission report into Mr de Menezes's death, which was handed over to the Crown Prosecution Service 10 days ago.
The electrician was shot after he was wrongly identified as suspected failed suicide bomber Hussein Osman by an undercover Special Branch team, it was reported. But after they realised their fatal error, officers allegedly altered the log at a debriefing meeting 10 hours after the shooting to show that no positive identification had been made.
The source was quoted as saying: "The log was actually tampered with in a major way. In particular, the words 'and' and 'not' were inserted about the Osman ID, so it read 'and it was not Osman' rather than 'it was Osman'."
It was revealed earlier this month that as many as 10 police officers could face criminal charges - believed potentially to include murder or manslaughter - over the fatal shooting.
Mr Rehman condemned the stream of leaks about the IPCC investigation and repeated calls for a full public inquiry into Mr de Menezes's death. He said: "This is the only way to ensure there is full public confidence and that there isn't any hint of collusion or cover-up. In the circumstances, justice must not only be done but it must be seen to be done. I think there is a responsibility on all the institutions involved to ensure that this investigation is conducted in such a manner that we get the truth and we learn the lessons."
Copies of the report have been sent to the Metropolitan Police, the Home Office, the Crown Prosecution Service - but not to Mr de Menezes's family.
A spokesman for the Independent Police Complaints Commission said the organisation "would neither confirm nor deny" anything in the alleged leak.