The family of a teenage joyrider who died in a car crash after being chased by police are a step nearer to finding out if officers and police staff will face criminal charges.
Liam Albert, 17, died after the stolen blue Mazda he was driving hit an oncoming vehicle in Esher in the early hours of July 8, 2009, following a high-speed chase down the A3 from Merton.
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An Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation is understood to relate to claims about the moments after the crash, made public by this newspaper in 2011, when one of the pursuing Metropolitan Police officers took a photograph of the crash scene on his phone.
He, and a Detective Inspector who arrived at the crash scene in Lammas Lane, repeatedly refused to hand over the phone to a Surrey Police crash investigator, according to police witness documents submitted to Liam Albert’s inquest but never called on by the coroner.
The Surrey officer told them they could be seen to be perverting the course of justice, and when they refused, pursued them to a police station to demand they hand it over. The photos were later deleted.
An inquest jury looking at the moments up to the crash ruled that, although the death was accidental, the Met made a material contribution to his death by not halting the chase earlier. This is also understood to be part of the investigation, in relation to the staff in the control room, directing the police chase.
Announcing the investigation last March the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it would interview three police officers under criminal caution.
They were also to be served with notices they were under investigation for possible gross misconduct.
Three civilian police staff who were working in the control room on the night of the crash were also to be interviewed over possible gross misconduct.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said this week it was in the process of finalising the report after completing its interviews and lines of inquiry.
A spokesman said: “Once the investigation report has been completed it will be forwarded to the Commissioner Jennifer Izekor and she will consider whether to refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision on whether the officers concerned should face criminal charges.”
Sharla John and Delroy Albert complained to the IPCC at the time of Liam’s death and again after the inquest. But the IPCC initially allowed the Met to investigate itself.
The Met asked for a dispensation to drop the investigation, but the family threatened a judicial review prompting the new investigation.
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