British PM visits Boston to discuss marathon bombs

Boston: British Prime Minister David Cameron met with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to offer his condolences and discuss lessons that can be learned from the deadly Boston Marathon bombing.

The meeting followed a White House visit in which Cameron held a press conference with President Barack Obama. Cameron was greeted by Patrick on the front steps of the Massachusetts Statehouse. The two men then walked together into the building and into the governor`s office for a private meeting. Cameron told Patrick before the meeting that he wanted to pay his respects in Boston, where the April 15 bombing near the marathon`s finish line killed three people and injured more than 260 others. One bombing suspect died after a gunbattle with police, and the other, his younger brother, was arrested. The brothers also are blamed for the shooting death of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer days after the bombing. Cameron`s meeting and a reception with Patrick and other state leaders lasted just over an hour. Cameron declined to respond to reporters` questions on leaving the meeting. During the press conference earlier in Washington, D.C., Cameron said he looked forward to going to Boston "to pay tribute to the people of that remarkable city." Patrick said he was pleased with the chance to spend time with Cameron. "It was great," Patrick told reporters as he left the meeting. "I had a chance to meet him when we were in London a couple of years ago but not to really visit as we did today." Patrick said the two also discussed the economic cooperation they`ve forged in the innovation sector. Patrick said he was headed to an evening financial services round table with Cameron. Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray and state Housing and Economic Development Secretary Gregory Bialecki also attended in the meeting, which was followed by a reception in the governor`s council chamber. Also yesterday, the director of the Massachusetts funeral home where Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev`s body was held for days amid protests over where it would be buried said Tsarnaev`s relatives had the right to bury the body as they did, even if he didn`t agree with their methods. Peter Stefan, of Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors in Worcester, said he had received about 20 calls from Virginia residents complaining about Tsarnaev`s secret burial there last week. PTI