Challenge over police reinstatement

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur decided the punishment, following the death of Peter Woodhams, 22, was excessive and substituted lesser penalties.

In court, Mr Ghaffur was accused of exceeding his powers and making an unlawful decision. The judge said he would rule on Friday on whether to allow the challenge to go to a full hearing.

Mr Woodhams was murdered by a gang seven months after being the victim of a knife attack which left him scarred.

The satellite TV engineer was shot three times in August 2006 outside his home in Canning Town, east London. Bradley Tucker, 18, was later convicted of Mr Woodhams' murder and jailed for a minimum of 25 years.

The investigating officer for the knife attack, Detective Constable Adam Suett and his supervising officer, Det Sergeant Darren Case, were subsequently found guilty of gross neglect.

They were required to resign after an inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) found serious flaws in the way the case had been handled.

But the police watchdog decision was reviewed by Assistant Commissioner Ghaffur and the punishment declared to be too severe, leading to their reinstatement. DS Case was demoted to Detective Constable while DC Suett, who has since left the Met police to join the Derbyshire constabulary, was fined 13 days pay.

Mr Woodhams' father, also called Peter, said the decision to reinstate the officers was unbelievable.

Stephen Cragg, appearing for the family, asked Judge Inglis, sitting at London's High Court, to give the go-ahead for a judicial review application.