But his replacement is likely to be more of a politician than a “copper” in the mould of Sir John.Sir Ian, his Oxford University-educated deputy, is seen as the leading contender, with his fierce intellect and well-established relations with the Home Office. He has been largely responsible for driving through the introduction of community support officers, a cheap method of providing extra street policing.Sir Ian, 50, applied for the commissioner’s job five years ago while chief constable of Surrey, but had to settle for the number two slot. Sir John, with a combination of charm, toughness, shrewd political nous and luck, has built good relations with ministers and got good results. But Sir John, 61, is to continue his inquiry into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and his 14-year investigation into alleged collusion between security forces and terrorists in Northern Ireland. His deputy, Sir Ian Blair, is the officer most widely tipped to succeed him as commissioner – the most senior and pressured post in policing. Among those thought to be considering applying for the £175,000-a-year position are the country’s most senior Asian officer and chief constables who previously worked under Sir John.The new appointment is crucial in political terms as the commissioner is influential on Home Office funding and policy.

Sir John Stevens will announce today that he is retiring as head of the Metropolitan Police next year, starting a race to become Britain’s top policeman.
The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police will tell his police authority that he will not seek an extension of his five-year contract when it expires on 31 January. that no one, whatever his crime, should be condemned to death without an opportunity to try and persuade the sentencing judge that he does not deserve to die.”. They said: “In Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados these laws have remained, in all essentials, unchanged. In a separate ruling the judges ended the mandatory death penalty in Jamaica.The right of appeal to the Privy Council is a colonial hangover from the days Britain ruled these Caribbean countries.The judges acknowledged the death penalty was “objectionable” and reflected the medieval common law of England. The majority judgment could not have been narrower – five law lords, led by Lord Hoffmann, voted to retain the mandatory death penalty while four, led by Lord Bingham of Cornhill, voted to abolish it. But in the cases before their panel, the three men’s sentences should be commuted to life imprisonment.The ruling was criticised yesterday as a missed opportunity to end the death penalty in the Caribbean.The Privy Council, sitting as the final Court of Appeal of Trinidad and of Barbados, ruled that mandatory death penalty laws should remain in force.

British judges have upheld the right of two Caribbean countries to impose mandatory death sentences for murder, in a judgment widely attacked by human rights lawyers.
A special panel of nine judges hearing the appeal of three men convicted of murder, said the abolition of the death penalty was a matter for the parliaments of Trinidad and Tobago, and of Barbados. As the attendant struggled to release her, he reportedly told her: “The lock’s buggered.”The inquest continues.. The attendant said, ‘No, she has to sit on her own’,” she said. “My mum doesn’t know much English so she said ‘Salma handicap’ but they ignored her. Her sister Rabia, from Nelson, Lancashire, who rode on the wheel a few minutes earlier, told the hearing she had appeared anxious at the start of the ride.”When Salma was going to get on, my mum was going to sit with her. She argued that, as a wife and mother, she was an equal partner in his business.Terence and Caroline Conran: Ms Conran won a landmark case against the interior designer in 1996 and was awarded £10m His case was not helped by his comments at the time “All she did was cook a few dinners,” he said.. A teenager with Down’s syndrome who fell to her death from the top of a Ferris wheel was forced to sit on her own during the ride, despite pleas from her mother, an inquest was told yesterday.