No action over murder inquiry

The CPS says there is not enough evidence to prosecute

Prosecutors have recommended no action should be taken against officers involved in the initial bungled inquiry into the murder of a black musician set on fire in the street by a racist gang.

The family of Michael Menson, 30, who had a history of mental illness, are angry about the decision.

Officers first said they believed Mr Menson had set himself on fire.

The son of a Ghanaian diplomat was taunted and doused in flammable liquid by the gang who set him alight in north London in January 1997.

He died later in hospital.

Insufficient evidence

A team from Cambridgeshire carried out an inquiry on behalf of the Police Complaints Authority.

It looked at failings in the first two investigations into Mr Menson's death after an inquest in 1998 decided he had been unlawfully killed.

Four men linked with the killing were convicted after a new Scotland Yard inquiry was set up by the force's specialist racial and violent crime task force.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.

Mr Menson's brother Kwesi said he was "deeply concerned" about the decision and said they would be seeking a meeting with the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Michael Schwarz, the family's solicitor since 1997, said he was not ruling out legal proceedings against the CPS, the Metropolitan Police and individual officers.

A Scotland Yard statement said due to the possibility of disciplinary action against a number of serving officers it would be inappropriate to comment.