Conservative MP Howard Flight today added his voice to calls for a public inquiry into the killing of James Ashley.

The Arundel and South Downs MP said it should investigate the conduct of the Police Complaints Authority and the Home Office as well as Sussex Police.

Mr Flight said he was concerned the intervention of Home Secretary David Blunkett had given the impression officers in Sussex had "behaved in a criminally negligent way and lied".

Lewes Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker has already called for a public inquiry.

Mr Flight said: "It was strange that the new Home Secretary forced the early retirement of Paul Whitehouse as Chief Constable of Sussex when Jack Straw, whose tenure spanned the whole sorry story, took no such action.

"The recent Home Office decision was, moreover, taken after the prosecutions recommended by Barbara Wilding, the Assistant Chief Constable of Kent, who conducted an inquiry into the killing, had either collapsed or failed, and all allegations of dishonesty against Mr Whitehouse had been withdrawn."

Mr Flight added the PCA had failed to correct the "central and incorrect misapprehension" that Mr Ashley was shot in bed - not, as forensic evidence has proved, while standing up and moving towards the door.

The MP concluded: "Unless we want our police to back off from difficult decisions at difficult times, it is crucial for this whole sorry affair to be the subject of fully independent scrutiny.