Mark Duggan death

A cloud of doubt surrounds the Independence Police Complaints Commission following the admission that it may have misled journalists to believe that Mark Duggan had fired at police before being killed.

Duggan was shot by police last Thursday by officers and his death sparked a protest followed by widespread rioting which began in Tottenham and spread across London and other cities in England.

The IPCC, who are investigating the events of Duggan's death, said that any formal statements issued by the body made no reference to shots fired at police.

But a statement issued today said: "However, having reviewed the information the IPCC received and gave out during the very early hours of the unfolding incident, before any documentation had been received, it seems possible that we may have verbally led journalists to believe that shots were exchanged as this was consistent with early information we received that an officer had been shot and taken to hospital.

"Any reference to an exchange of shots was not correct and did not feature in any of our formal statements, although an officer was taken to hospital after the incident."

A number of news outlets mentioned an IPCC spokseperson who had suggested that police had been involved in a shootout with Duggan before he was fatally wounded. Reports of a bullet being lodged in the radio of one of the officers further fuelled speculation.

But it later turned out the bullet was fired by a police-issue gun and there was no evidence that Duggan had fired at officers.

The IPCC earlier issued an appeal for witnesses to come forward to help with their investigation into Duggan's death at the hands of the police.