Colombians claim immunity over killing

The Foreign Office yesterday hauled in a senior Colombian diplomat to demand that two men who have claimed diplomatic immunity over the murder of a man in west London co-operate with police.

Denis McShane, the Foreign Office Minister, summoned the Colombian chargé d'affaires to insist that the pair remain in Britain until the inquiry is completed.

The Colombians, an embassy diplomat and a close relative, thought to be his son, are wanted for questioning over the death of Damien Broom, 23, who was stabbed to death last week.

But the affair threatened to spark an international row after the two men claimed diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention of 1961.

Last week the Foreign Office formally asked the Colombian ambassador, Victor Ricardo, to waive their immunity and hand them over to the police. The embassy has promised full co-operation.

Mr McShane said: "I hope the Colombian authorities will treat this is a request from the Foreign Office to the Colombian government that they stay in the UK for as long as it takes for the inquiry to be completed."

Mr Broom, a warehouseman from Acton, west London, who had a wife and a six-month old daughter, died of multiple stab wounds in hospital last Tuesday evening after a confrontation with three men outside a Tesco's in Greenford, west London.