britain's former top female police officer who was in charge of the  operation that led to the death of innocent brazilian jean charles de menezes has been awarded a cbe by the queen today cressida dick, who quit scotland yard to take up a job in the foreign office last year, received the honour during an investiture ceremony at buckingham palace in london the 54 year old wore her metropolitan police uniform as she collected the honour from the monarch, who wore a dusky rose dress scroll down for video  cressida dick, who was in charge of the bungled operation that led to the death of innocent brazilian jean charles de menezes, received the honour during an investiture ceremony at buckingham palace in london  the former assistant police commissioner stepped down from the force in december last year, after 31 years of service, and took up a secretive job with the government's foreign office her departure came just months after she was moved from a key counter terror role at the metropolitan police the controversial 54 year old was in charge of specialist operations, including counter terrorism, between july 2011 and summer 2014 however, scotland yard chief sir bernard hogan howe moved her to specialist crime and operations for the last few months of her career – stripping her of counter terror responsibilities ms dick was appointed assistant commissioner at the force in 2009   26 years after joining the met police in 1983 she was in charge of the operation which led to mr de menezes being shot seven times in the head in 2005 after being mistaken for a suicide bomber she gave evidence at an old bailey trial and the inquest in 2013, coming close to tears as she described the 'horrible'' and 'terrible' tragedy she denied that she gave an order that mr de menezes must be stopped from getting on to a train at stockwell 'at all costs' and also denied instructing the firearms teams to use lethal force to stop him ms dick, who quit scotland yard to take up a secretive role in the foreign office last year, wore her met police uniform as she received her honour from the queen ms dick, 54, was formerly britain's top police officer  last year, ms dick said: 'i first joined the met in 1983 and have loved my time as a police officer in london 'it has been a wonderful privilege to work in such an extraordinary organisation and with such fabulous people i feel very lucky to have done so i will miss you all' upon her departure, sir bernard described her as a 'fantastic leader' and a 'role model for women across the service' among others who received honours during today's investiture ceremony was margaret aspinall and trevor hicks who have fought for more than a quarter of a century for justice for the victims of the hillsborough disaster the pair were awarded cbes from the queen for their services to the bereaved hillsborough families ms aspinall's son james, 18, and mrs hicks's daughters sarah, 19, and victoria, 15, were among the 96 liverpool fans who were killed in britain's worst sporting disaster the pair are both heavily involved in the hillsborough family support group (hfsg and have been the driving force in the lengthy legal battle against the british establishment which saw the accidental death verdicts in the previous hillsborough inquests being quashed and a new hearing ordered cressida dick was the police commander in the control room during the operation which led to the death of jean charles de menezes ms dick gave the order to 'stop' mr de menezes at stockwell tube station after it was feared that he was one of four men who had tried to bomb the london underground the day before the 27 year old electrician was shot dead on july 22, 2005, after anti terror police mistook him for bomber hussain osman ms dick, who was later promoted to the deputy assistant commissioner, told his inquest that the innocent brazilian was the victim of a series of 'unfortunate' coincidences she choked back tears as told the hearing in 2008 that she thought about his death every day cressida dick (left) was the police commander in the control room during the operation which led to the death of jean charles de menezes (right) the innocent brazilian was shot by anti terror police in july, 2005  when asked what went wrong, ms dick said it was a series of 'unfortunate' coincidences she said: 'if you ask me whether anybody did anything wrong or unreasonable in the operation, i don't think they did' officers followed mr de menezes when he left his flat in tulse hill, south london   thinking he could be suspect hussain osman, who lived in the same block   but were not able to positively identify him he was shot seven times in the head as he boarded a train at stockwell station after ms dick gave the order to 'stop' him as he entered the tube during his inquest, she denied giving an order that mr de menezes must be stopped from getting on a train 'at all costs' or instructing the firearms teams to use lethal force to stop him 'i would need to be absolutely satisfied that this person posed a dreadful imminent threat before i would order a critical shot,' she said 'i was asking for what you might call a conventional challenge from the firearms officers' the inquest by jury later found the met police guilty of health and safety failings over its bungled operation but no officer faced criminal charges
british cressida dick 54 met police 31 years last year foreign office buckingham palace today
former british police officer cressida dick, 54, has been awarded a cbe . served with met police for 31 years and  in charge of specialist operations . she quit the force last year and took up a secretive role at foreign office . received  honour from the queen at buckingham palace ceremony today 