The family of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was shot at Stockwell tube by police, say the investigation into the handling of his death has been delayed because Sir Ian Blair has not found time to be interviewed.

They claim that Mr Blair has not made himself available for interview by the Independent Police Complaints Commission for almost two months.

A spokesman for the de Menezes family said: "We believe it is a disgraceful situation where the head of the Metropolitan Police... cannot find time for almost two months to report to the IPCC.

"The IPCC need to exert their authority now in order to have any further credibility."

A spokeswoman for the IPCC admitted that the inquiry, named Stockwell 2, would be delayed, but refused to point the finger at Sir Ian. "We are now looking at late summer," she said.

"The investigation is complex and is taking longer than we expected for a number of reasons.

"The timing of any outstanding interviews is not a major factor or a matter of disagreement between us and the Metropolitan Police Service. We have been having on-going dialogue to arrange outstanding interviews and it is just a matter of both sides being available at the same time.

"As we have said before, we will not be giving a running commentary on the investigation. We expect to conclude the investigation by late summer. The Metropolitan Police Service is co-operating with our inquiries."

It is understood that Mr Blair is not the main source of delay. He has been available for interview from the start and, apart from two weeks when he has annual leave later this summer, is available in the coming weeks.

News of the delay comes as a pre-inquest review is held today at Southwark Coroner’s Court into the progress of the original investigation into the actual shooting itself.

The IPCC handed that report to the Crown Prosecution Service in January, and the CPS is soon expected to announce if any charges will be brought against officers involved in the shooting.

Members of Mr de Menezes’ family said they would be attending this morning’s private hearing to express their frustration at the delays in the CPS’s announcement.

A date for a full inquest into the death cannot be fixed until any decision on criminal charges is made.

A spokesman said: "The family has already been let down by the police, now it is being let down by the CPS and IPCC.

"It is an outrage that neither agency have finished their investigations and the CPS have not indicated to the family the timescale.

"This adds further insult to injury to the family as they approach the one-year anniversary of Jean’s murder."

Yesterday the IPCC issued a statement saying that they had put extra security in place to ensure there would be no leaks to the media of their report into the shooting.

"We understand people’s frustration that our report into Jean Charles’ death has still not been published. We passed the report and file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service in January and they are still reviewing the file before deciding whether any criminal proceedings should be launched.

"We are therefore unable to publish at this time. We are confident about the quality of our investigation, and that it is balanced and objective."

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