Police red-tape

The Evening Standard report that:

"The man who handed himself in over the murders of two French students was told to wait in line at the reception of a south London police station.

The badly burned 33-year-old walked into Lewisham police station and apparently tried to confess that he was the man who had killed Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo, who were set on fire in their rented bedsit in New Cross in brutal scenes that have been compared to a Quentin Tarantino film. Laurent had been stabbed 196 times and Gabriel suffered 47 wounds.

But instead of calling for an officer to arrest him immediately, a civilian worker at the station asked the man to wait his turn. It has been claimed he was made to wait with other members of the public for at least five minutes and the Met is now investigating.

Lucy Downer, 27, who was sitting in the police station with the man while waiting to pay a motoring fine, said: "We were sitting on a row of seats when this skinny bloke walked in. He looked really out of it. His hands were bright red and his face was peeling badly. There were booths just to the right of the front door and he went into the first one and spoke with a reception officer.

"Then he came back out, sat down next to my cousin and started looking at her very strangely. I got a bit worried and changed places with her. Then this bloke got out a tub of antiseptic cream and rubbed it into his hands for the next few minutes.

"He then stood up, put his hands in the air and said, 'I've got third degree f***ing burns and they are not doing anything about it'."

Ms Downer said she asked the man to repeat what he had said and then mouthed the word "help" to a nearby policeman. She added: "The guy could have had second thoughts about giving himself up and scarpered at any point. He was off his head but he looked like he was very serious about what he said."

"It was very scary to be with him for several minutes because some jobsworth didn't think it was his turn in the queue."

Police are still waiting to speak to the man, who is currently under police guard in hospital. A police spokesman said he would not be interviewed until he had been released from hospital. Detectives yesterday described him as a "significant suspect" in the killing.

It is thought the two students were tortured for their bank card PIN numbers, which were missing along with two Sony handheld games consoles.

A 21-year-old man arrested on Saturday was later released without charge.

Police then renewed their appeals and released a photofit of the prime suspect. Hours later the 33-year-old man walked into the police station.

A Met spokesman said: "We are investigating the length of time it took for the man to be detained but cannot comment further.""

What do you expect, the police have forms to be filled in, targets to be met. If the police arrested a man confessing to murder whilst ignoring a woman or a member of an ethnic minority who had been waiting longer than the confessing murderer then just think of the racial and/or sexual discrimination case that might ensue. In fact just think of the forms that might need filling in to cover that eventuality... Best to leave the public to wait in an orderly fashion. Even better close the police station and then the problem could not arise, job done.