SIR PAUL STEPHENSON has ordered research into the police practice of "conferring" over evidence following a High Court ruling in the case of shot barrister Mark Saunders.

The Met's Deputy Commissioner has enlisted Portsmouth University to undertake a study into the way evidence is recalled by officers.

It comes after the failed attempt by the family of Mr Saunders to have an Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation into his killing ruled unlawful because officers talked among themselves before providing statements. Mr Saunders, 32, who had been firing a shotgun from his Chelsea flat, was shot 11 times by seven marksmen during a five-hour siege in May.

At the end of his family's failed challenge of the IPCC inquiry, Mr Justice Underhill agreed that allowing officers to confer opened the gates for institutionalised collusion.

Conferring over notes is currently allowed in guidelines set out by the Association of Chief Police Officers. There have been three previous calls to ban the practice and it is likely to come under the spotlight again in the coming weeks during the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes.

The Met said it would make changes based on the findings of the year-long study by the criminal studies department at Portsmouth University.

A Met spokesman said: "Police officers must be guided by the law, and the law must be shaped by science. We have commissioned research to explore if sanctioned conferring has any impact positive or negative on the individual recall of the incident."

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