Copies of a book by Scotland Yard’s former anti-terrorism chief were hastily removed from bookstore shelves yesterday after the Attorney-General obtained a last-minute injunction.

The decision to prevent sales of The Terrorist Hunters, by Andy Hayman, was issued by a High Court judge just before midnight on Wednesday after a hearing conducted by telephone conference call.

Although bookstores were alerted, internet bookshops were still promoting the book as a special offer and about 2,500 copies of the hardback edition had been pre-sold.

The hearing was requested by Baroness Scotland of Asthal on Wednesday, even though the book, extracts of which appeared in The Times last week, had been submitted for vetting to a number of government agencies two months ago.

The intelligence services, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Cabinet Office are all believed to have seen copies of the manuscript before its publication — though the book was not shown to the Metropolitan Police.

The legal reasons for seeking the temporary injunction cannot be disclosed, but a full High Court hearing on the matter is expected next week.

The book concentrates on Mr Hayman’s years as Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations at Scotland Yard. During that time, he dealt with the London bomb attacks of July 2005 and called for a public inquiry into the events leading up to Britain’s first suicide bombings.

Mr Hayman was also highly critical of the workings of Cobra, the Government’s emergency committee, claiming that it spent too much time discussing politics and not enough time on urgent operational matters.

His book also examines the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian dissident, and gives a glimpse of the interaction between politicians and senior security personnel.

Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, complained last week that he had not been given a preview of the book’s contents.

He questioned whether senior officers should be allowed to publish books of this kind about their period in service. Sir Paul said: “I find it surprising as commissioner that I have no right on this occasion to have access to the book before it is published. That surprises me. It is troublesome and it does not help good conduct.”

Mr Hayman, who writes for The Times on policing matters, said that he was unable to comment on the injunction for legal reasons. Random House, the publishers of The Terrorist Hunters, also declined to comment.

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