Blair intervened to get diplomat to trial

Damian Broom died on 21 May 2002

Prime Minister Tony Blair had to step in to enable police to charge Jairo Soto-Mendoza with the murder of Damian Broom after the Colombian claimed diplomatic immunity.

Mr Blair urged the president-elect of Columbia Alvaro Uribe to speed up the process whereby Mr Soto-Mendoza could be charged during talks in July 2002.

The 44-year-old, who was a sergeant major with the Colombian army, was serving as secretary to the military attaché at London's Colombian Embassy at the time of Mr Broom's death.

Mr Soto-Mendoza and his son voluntarily gave their account of what happened to detectives.

Formal approach

But they were not able to be officially questioned or cautioned for months because of their diplomatic rights under the Vienna Convention.

Designed to ensure diplomatic staff can perform duties without harassment, diplomatic immunity means, regardless of laws of the host country, they cannot be prosecuted.

However because of the seriousness of the case, the Foreign Office made a formal approach to the embassy to waive those rights six days after the stabbing.

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But Colombia was undergoing a change of administration as previous president Andres Pastrana made way for his successor.

It was then that Mr Blair urged president-elect Alvaro Uribe to intervene during talks at Downing Street in July.

But he was not sworn in until August, and attempts to get Mr Soto-Mendoza's immunity waived were further delayed.

The situation was denounced by human rights lawyer Sadiq Khan as "an absolute farce".

However, on 26 September, the Colombian ambassador contacted Scotland Yard to confirm diplomatic immunity had been waived and Mr Soto-Mendoza appeared at in court the next day charged with murder.

His superiors in Colombia described him as having an "exemplary military record", with no previous criminal or disciplinary record.

He was on his first overseas assignment which would have only lasted a year, but was extended because of the trial.

Following a three week trial at the Old Bailey he was cleared of murder and manslaughter.