The British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, has warned against any rush to judgment of the police or judicial system following the acquittal of two teenage boys charged with the murder of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor.
But controversy continued to build yesterday following Thursday's acquittals leaving one of Scotland Yard's biggest murder investigations - involving 120 officers at a cost of £2.8 million - in ruins. The chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, Mr Toby Harris, led calls for a review of the way the police had handled the case while London's mayor, Mr Ken Livingstone, questioned "how the Crown Prosecution Service allowed such an important case to fall apart in this way".
The Metropolitan Commissioner, Sir John Stevens, confirmed that a police inquiry was already under way and the DPP confirmed that there would be a second report into all the circumstances surrounding the case.
"Sobs, anger and recriminations," headlined newspaper accounts of the continued failure to apprehend and convict Damilola's murderers. While the mother of the boys cleared of killing him spoke of her joy at their release, the Daily Mail saw the outcome of the court case as "a devastating indictment of Britain's amoral underclass and a judicial system that can no longer protect the law-abiding people of this country".
In the same vein the Daily Telegraph lamented the fact that whoever killed Damilola continued to walk free, seeing here "a story of our time - a story of how law has lost its power and of how many youths have become gruesomely disaffected". And against this backdrop of national grief and soul-searching, an investigation by the London Evening Standard last night claimed that the crucial alibi for the two brothers cleared of the killing was "seriously flawed".
On a local government election campaign visit to Blackburn, Mr Blair said peoples' thoughts should be foremost with Damilola's parents Richard and Gloria, "good and decent people whose sense of grief must be heightened by what has happened".
Of course lessons must be learned, said Mr Blair: "But we should also realise that police have a difficult job to do and we shouldn't rush to judge, we should consider it carefully so we get it right." He dismissed suggestions that the streets were overrun with criminals and young tearaways: "It has fallen, not risen, but - yes - there is a problem with street crime and we are taking measures to deal with it."
Mr Blair declined further questions as to whether there should be a parliamentary review of the actions of the police or the prosecution service, while the Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, insisted both had worked "extremely hard and professionally in very difficult circumstances". However Mr Straw, suggested it would be necessary to consider "whether, for example, the trial process is appropriate for trials of children in circumstances like this".
Driver to get 'substantial' term
AN unqualified driver whose car plunged into a lake and left his girlfriend's three small children dead was yesterday in custody and facing a "substantial" jail term after being found guilty of manslaughter. Courtney Barker (22), a forklift truck driver of Luton, Bedfordshire, hung his head after a jury returned guilty verdicts following a two-week trial at Luton Crown Court. - (PA)