Andy Hayman

Andy Hayman is the former head of Specialist Operations at the Metropolitan Police.

In November 1998, Mr Hayman entered the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) when he was appointed to the rank of commander in the Met with responsibility for drugs, crime and complaints investigations.

Between then and December 2002 he was responsible for a range of serious crime issues, as well as corruption in the Met, while representing Acpo on drugs issues.

He left the Met to become Chief Constable of Norfolk, where he stayed until he returned to Scotland Yard to take up the post as Assistant Commissioner (Specialist Operations) in February 2005.

The role encompasses responsibility for terrorist investigations, the protection of royalty, VIPs and diplomats and aviation security.

Mr Hayman, who is marred with two daughters, has been a leading voice on terror in Acpo and government circles.

With Mr Clarke, he has been a major influence in the creation of a nationwide anti-terrorist investigation structure - the need for which was illustrated by the fact that the July 7 London bombers came from Leeds.

Operation Helios

Hayman led Operation Helios, the investigation into then Metropolitan Police superintendent Ali Dizaei.

The investigation into Ali Dizaei, then a Metropolitan police superintendent, ended with his acquittal at the Old Bailey on corruption charges after a four-year pursuit by his own force. Mr Dizaei's phones were tapped and he was followed by his fellow officers. When he was suspended in January 2001, he was legal adviser to the National Black Police Association (NBPA) and helped officers sue forces for discrimination. Yesterday's apology came after the discovery that the Met had listened in to confidential calls about black and Asian officers suing the force for racism.

In a negotiated settlement between the Met and the NBPA, the police admitted making mistakes and to bugging privileged legal calls and transcribing them.

De Menezes case

Hayman was criticised by an official investigation of the police response to the death of Jean Charles De Menezes.

The investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which lasted two years and cost £300,000, found one person culpable over the mishandling of emerging information about Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, who was shot seven times in the head at Stockwell Tube station on 22 July 2005.

It accused Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman, the head of counter-terrorism operations, of "misleading the public" by trying to hide the fact that the dead man was not a suspect of the 21 July suicide bombing plot. His actions, says the report, "cause us serious concerns".

The report reveals that Mr Hayman had briefed crime reporters on the day of the shooting that the dead man was not one of the 21 July suspects. However, that information was "deliberately withheld" from a press release he helped to write later on. The report states: "Assistant Commissioner Hayman chose to mislead the public by his actions."

Andy Hayman profile, by John Steele, telegraph.co.uk, 6 December 2007.

Met apology for £4m inquiry into top officer, by Vikram Dodd, The Guardian, 6 June 2007.

Counter-terrorism chief 'misled public' over Menezes shooting, by Kim Sengupta and Nigel Morris, The Independent, 3 August 2007.