The family of an unarmed man who was shot dead by police in the street while carrying a wooden table leg were told by investigating officers that he may have been carrying out a bizarre suicide plan.
Officers suggested to relatives of Harry Stanley, 46, who was hit by bullets from two police marksmen last September, that he wanted to die because he had recently hadsurgery for cancer.The theory has infuriated the Stanley family, who claim that police investigating the death on an east London street have gone out of their way to exonerate the officers involved.Next month Surrey Police, who are investigating the shooting on behalf of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), will send their report to the Crown Prosecution Service, which will consider criminal charges against the two officers.Last night, the Stanley family’s solicitor, Daniel Machover, said: “The family’s understanding is that the police have floated this theory as a result of cases in the United States where it is well known that police are armed and people might put themselves in harm’s way if they are feeling suicidal.”In the circumstances of this case, I think it was wholly inappropriate for police to suggest this was even a possibility.”Mr Machover said he “accepted” that police must explore all possible theories butsaid there was nothing to recommend the suicide notion because Mr Stanley’s surgeryhad been “100 per cent successful”.Mr Stanley was killed shortly after 7.30pm on 22 September as he was walking home to watch a televised football match, carrying a leg of a coffee table which had been repaired by his brother.He had gone into a pub for a glass of lemonade and a member of the public became suspicious of the table leg, which was tightly wrapped in a plastic bag. A 999 call was made to the police, mistakenly reporting that an Irishman – Mr Stanley was originally from Scotland – had left the pub carrying a shotgun.Mr Stanley was shot 100 yards from his front door after being confronted by officers from Scotland Yard’s specialist firearms unit.His relatives, who have made a formal complaint to the PCA about the Surrey investigation, which will be investigated in turn by Suffolk Police, claim officers were hostile to the family.Friends arriving at the house to pay their respects were asked for their names and addresses by police.Deborah Coles, of Inquest, a charity which investigates deaths in custody, said: “The family felt that the police were interrogating family members and that they and Harry Stanley were being investigated in an attempt to deflect attention away from police conduct.”The family have complained that police took 20 hours to notify them of the death althoughhe was carrying his passport, containing his address and details of his next of kin, at the time of his death. They also claim that officers misled the family into thinking that the costs of Mr Stanley’s funeral would be met. The Metropolitan Police later declined to pay.An inquest into Mr Stanley’s death has been opened and adjourned pending the police investigation and possible court proceedings.Last night in the House of Commons, the family’s MP,Brian Sedgemore – the Labour member for Hackney South and Shoreditch – was due to raise the case as part of an adjournment debate on police shootings. Mr Sedgemore was expected to call for improved training of firearms officers.. Politicians from Italy’s governing centre-left coalition scrambled to agree on a candidate for premier to succeed Massimo D’Alema and clear the way for his resignation as the price for a stunning electoral defeat. Politicians from Italy’s governing centre-left coalition scrambled to agree on a candidate for premier to succeed Massimo D’Alema and clear the way for his resignation as the price for a stunning electoral defeat.
D’Alema was scheduled to address the Senate on Wednesday and then was expected to turn in his resignation to President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi without asking any vote of confidence, parliamentary officials said.The victorious conservative forces, led by media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, kept up their calls for a general election, seeking to take advantage of momentum gained in the regional vote Sunday.

The centre-left is trying to hold onto power until it can regroup in time for scheduled elections next spring.Ciampi had rejected D’Alema’s resignation when he first offered it on Monday, but the premier’s own allies were now undermining his ability to govern after 18 months in office.D’Alema, the first former Communist at the helm of an Italian government, leads a coalition ranging from hardline Communists to liberal Christian Democrats.In Sunday’s balloting, Berlusconi’s centre-right alliance routed the centre-left, sweeping the affluent north and the region including Rome.Consensus swelled among the center-left coalition partners to try to avoid early elections by backing a new premier who would be supported by Ciampi.”We need a new premier, a premier capable of communicating with the new classes in the country,” said a D’Alema coalition partner, Pierluigi Castagnetti, a former Christian Democrat.”Every time they lose, the left of yachts and fancy chefs looks at the middle classes in the north with surprised disgust,” said a commentary in Turin’s La Stampa newspaper.The leadership of the Greens, another coalition partner, formally proposed Treasury Minister Giuliano Amato, a former Socialist premier, as their choice to lead the government to parliamentary elections next year. Amato is widely respected abroad and at home for helping Italy rein in its huge deficit.The left “doesn’t know how to interpret the needs of the new producing class, small and medium businesses, industry,” said Antonio Bassolino, who used his popularity as Naples mayor to score the most significant victory for the left on Sunday.Avoiding new elections could let a May 21 referendum to reform Italy’s electoral system go forward. The referendum seeks to abolish the remaining 25 percent of seats elected by proportional representation, blamed for the chronic instability of Italian governments D’Alema headed the 57th government in the past 55 years.. The Italian mastermind of Britain’s biggest robbery has been killed in a shootout with police on a country road, officials said. The Italian mastermind of Britain’s biggest robbery has been killed in a shootout with police on a country road, officials said.
The body of Valerio Viccei was dumped on the road in Teramo, 100 miles east of Rome, from a car that sped away, police said. One accomplice was later captured and another was being sought. A policeman was wounded.Police said they had responded to gunfire from the car.Viccei was convicted in connection with a safety deposit heist in London in 1987.

Police estimated the stolen property worth between £30m and £60m was looted – the exact amount would never be known because criminals were among those renting the 121 looted deposit boxes.He was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his part in the robbery and five earlier ones.He was later transferred to Italy to serve out his sentence, but was released on licence four years ago.. The driver of a passenger train was killed and about 20 passengers injured after a train in southern Belgium was derailed and fell into the path of another oncoming locomotive. The driver of a passenger train was killed and about 20 passengers injured after a train in southern Belgium was derailed and fell into the path of another oncoming locomotive.
One train appeared to have been derailed by a concrete bloc which police suspected had been placed deliberately on the track at Aiseau-Presles outside the city of Charleroi, about 40 miles south of Brussels. Witnesses said children had been playing near the track just before the crash.The driver died in hospital after an emergency operation.”His injuries were so grave, he had no chance,” said Etienne Schouppe, head of the national rail company NMBS-SNCB.The trains hit head on. The driver of the other train and two passengers were also seriously injured.The rail company reported the line between Charleroi and Namur would remain cut until Wednesday morning.. Austria’s dispute with Europe escalated yesterday as one of its ministers threatened to delay paying its EU contributions and disrupt business in protest at political sanctions against Vienna. Austria’s dispute with Europe escalated yesterday as one of its ministers threatened to delay paying its EU contributions and disrupt business in protest at political sanctions against Vienna.
Karl-Heinz Grasser, the most senior member of the far-right Freedom Party in the Austrian coalition government, said that unless the 14 member states end their policy of ostracising his country, retaliation may ensue.”Austria must show the EU more strongly that we cannot accept the dictates of the 14,” he said in an interview with the Kurier newspaper, published on Sunday.