Met violence: call for new probe

A Scotland Yard watchdog has called for an independent inquiry into the case of a terror suspect beaten up by police.

The Metropolitan Police Authority said it had no confidence in the force carrying out its own review of how officers used gratuitous violence in arresting Babar Ahmad.

Mr Ahmad, 34, won £60,000 damages from the Met last week after the force admitted its officers had assaulted him during his arrest in 2003.

The Met admitted at the High Court that Mr Ahmad had been the victim of sustained violence after police involved in his arrest refused to give evidence.

Today MPA members said they had been reassured by senior police officers that Mr Ahmad's claims were exaggerated. Magistrate member Reshard Auladin said it "beggared belief" that the officers had refused to give evidence. He said: "These officers said they were scared for their lives but that does not wash at all. The inference that we might draw is that they were guilty."

Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said he had ordered an internal review of all aspects of the case.