A Colombian diplomat has been found not guilty of murdering a mugger who attacked his son.
Sergeant Jairo Soto-Mendoza, 45, a secretary to the military attaché at the Colombian Embassy, was accused of stabbing to death Damian Broom, a father-of-one, near a supermarket in West London.
Señor Soto-Mendoza argued that Broom, 23, had come at him with a knife and he stabbed the petty thief in self-defence.
The diplomat wept as the jury announced the verdict after four days of deliberation. He was later driven away in a blue Mercedes car with diplomatic plates.
His 21-year-old son, also Jairo, was mugged and badly beaten by Broom and a friend outside Perivale Tube station in West London on 21 May 2002.
Broom was tracked down by father and son to a checkout at the local Tesco in Greenford. When he got away the Colombian chased him into an access road leading to the store, where the stabbing happened. Broom died in hospital an hour later.
Señor Soto-Mendoza was a product of his country's elite Lanceros force which is trained in mountain and jungle warfare. He had been involved in combating the communist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (Farc) which have killed thousands of people in Columbia's civil war.
He could have claimed immunity from prosecution, but Colombia decided to waive it after Tony Blair raised the case with President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia.
The prosecution had alleged that Senor Soto-Mendoza took a knife with him in pursuit of Bloom and stabbed him in "retribution and the heat of the event", but the diplomat said that the knife belonged to Bloom.
He said: "When I got near to him, I could see he was holding a knife. He charged towards me.
"My first reaction was to hold him by his hands. I turned his hands towards him and turned them round.
"It is a panic movement to protect oneself. The knife was pointing towards him. It happened in seconds. It was instinctive."
Señor Soto-Mendoza said that he rocked Mr Broom from side to side to break his balance and then "pushed him on to the floor in order to buy time".
He added: "He stumbled and fell on the floor. I ran off. At one stage I turned round and saw him standing there.
"Meanwhile, I was telling my son to run because the guy had a weapon."
The court heard that it was accepted that Mr Broom, who had a number of previous convictions for driving offences and minor thefts, had mugged the diplomat's son.
Judge Paul Focke told the defendant today: "Sergeant Major Soto-Mendoza, you may leave the dock."
Detective Superintendent Ian West said: "It was a very difficult trial. The jury considered everything very carefully. We did not reach the necessary standard of proof."
On the news yesterday his family were saying what a lovely man Mr. Broom was.
I once had a Volvo, but I don't want to talk about it.
In winter 1968 his mother was sexually assaulted by a monkey whilst working as knife thrower for the circus. Given away at birth because of his hideous appearance and hairy toes, he was unaware that monkey genes would enable him to stay upright under the most testing of conditions. However, he soon discovered this talent and realised that he could use this extraordinary power to fight evil and make the world a safer place, but instead decided to sit on his arse all day wasting time on VISORDOWN........
