Murder probes stall after bombs

Miss Delagrange was murdered last August

Some of London's major murder cases are effectively on hold while officers investigate the bomb attacks, a senior Metropolitan Police officer has said.

Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said the case of Amelie Delagrange, killed in Twickenham, was among them.

More than 1,000 officers are working on 7 July and 21 July inquiries. More are being used in high visibility patrols.

It is feared crime could rise in the boroughs as police are drafted into central London as part of the effort.

The cost of the anti-terror operation is thought to be in the region of £500,000 per day.

'Slowed to a trickle'

The investigations into the deaths of Pc Keith Blakelock, murdered in the Broadwater Farm riots in 1985, and Rachel Nickell, who was stabbed to death on Wimbledon Common in front of her son, have also been put on hold.

Miss Delagrange, a French student, was struck on the head as she walked across Twickenham Green in August last year.

Mr Ghaffur said: "I've had to significantly defer some operations. We haven't shut any cases, but work on some has slowed to a trickle.

"At the present time, I don't have any proactive capability and a very minimal staff for dealing with kidnaps or threats to kill," he said.

Home Office figures show that in London there were 180 murders in the 12 months leading up to June this year.

In the same period London had the highest rate of total recorded crime in the UK, with 130 offences per 1,000 of population.

'Remarkably well'

Deputy Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) Richard Barnes told BBC News that the force was over-stretched.

He said the bomb attacks, added to the Live 8 concert and G8 summit, had put the police under "six weeks of constant pressure".

Mr Barnes said: "The Met has risen, as it always does, remarkably well to the challenge, but it can't sustain people working 12 hours a day and six days a week."

"Crime PLC carries on," he said, adding that while terrorism had to be investigated so did all the other crime that is committed.

Mr Barnes also said a radical rethink of the role of police officers was needed and how civilian staff and support officers could help.