Met Chief demands Ahmad case probe

His force will pay Babar Ahmad £60,000 damages after admitting that the arresting officers subjected him to violent assaults and religious abuse.

It follows the collapse of the police defence to a civil action. Mr Ahmad's family claim there was a cover-up.

Scotland Yard said in a statement: "The Commissioner has demanded an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the officers refusing to give evidence relating to this arrest in 2003.

"Whilst this arrest and subsequent events are historic this is a serious matter which has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC)."

In 2007 an IPCC investigation cleared the police of any wrongdoing during the arrest, concluding that the claims by Mr Ahmad were "unsubstantiated".

Mr Ahmad was at the High Court to hear lawyers for the Met Commissioner concede he was the victim of gratuitous violence by territorial support group officers during the dawn arrest at his home in Fountain Road, Tooting, south west London, in December 2003.

One of the unnamed officers allegedly involved could face criminal proceedings, Mr Justice Holroyde heard.

Mr Ahmad - a 34-year-old IT support analyst - was never charged with any offences arising out of his arrest.

But in August 2004 he was detained at the request of the US government and has been held in Long Lartin prison ever since awaiting a decision on whether his extradition to America would contravene the European Convention on Human Rights.