The family of a Brazilian man shot dead in a London Tube station last month have called for British police to end their 'shoot-to-kill' policy for suspected suicide bombers.
Details emerged last night that appear to contradict the official account of how Jean Charles de Menezes (27) was mistaken for a suicide bomber and shot dead at Stockwell Tube station on July 22 nd.
Jean Charles de Menezes
Police initially said the 27-year-old electrician fled from armed officers by vaulting over barriers before stumbling onto an Underground train, where the officers opened fire.
But according to documents obtained by ITV News, he entered the station at a normal walking pace and even picked up a free copy of the Metronewspaper.
The leaked report also indicated that he was wearing a light denim jacket and not the heavily padded coat as initially claimed.
It revealed Mr de Menezes was being restrained by a police surveillance officer when he was shot. A post mortem examination showed he was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder, but three other bullets missed.
A campaign group supporting de Menezes' family said the killing resembled an illegal execution and called for the police's shoot-to-kill policy to be suspended. "The police's version has not only been shown to be incorrect but the public were deliberately misled. It's evident we have been told lies and half-truths about how Jean died," Asad Rehman, a spokesman for the Justice4Jean Family Campaign said.
Harriet Wistrich, lawyer for the de Menezes family, told Channel Four Newsthat they were distressed at the new revelations. "I think it is absolutely shocking and terrifying," she said. "There's obviously some level of incompetence here or some serious breakdown in communications with the various officers involved in surveillance."
Alex Alvez Pereira, de Menezes' cousin, said the officers involved should face murder charges. "We won't rest until we have justice even if it takes years," he told the Evening Standardnewspaper.
The new account was said to have been obtained from the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation into the killing. The IPCC refused to confirm or deny the truth of the information, while Scotland Yard and the Home Office said it would be inappropriate to comment.
London's Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Ian Blair at first said Mr de Menezes had been challenged but had refused to obey police instructions. He later apologised for the death.
Former London police commander John O'Connor said the reports were "catastrophic" and would put Sir Ian under pressure. "Whoever has leaked this report has caused him a great deal of embarrassment," he told BBC Television.
Mr Rehman said Sir Ian should resign. "[He] is ultimately responsible not only for the policy of shoot to kill, but also for the conduct of the Metropolitan Police. If it is demonstrated that he wilfully misled the public, that he wilfully misled the family about the circumstances of Jean's death and that it was his police force and his policy that contributed in such a negligent way to Jean's death, then clearly he bears that responsibility."
The leaked report said the intelligence operation may have been botched because an officer carrying out surveillance on the apartment block where Mr de Menezes lived had gone to the toilet when the Brazilian left his home. On July 22nd, police had been monitoring a flat in Scotia Road, Tulse Hill, south London, which they believed was linked to the previous day's bomb attempts. Mr de Menezes left the property before taking a bus to Stockwell Tube station.
During the course of his journey, officers came to the conclusion that he matched the description of one of two terror suspects, including Hussain Osman, the alleged Shepherd's Bush attempted bomber, according to the leaked documents.
One surveillance officer at the Tulse Hill address said he "checked the photographs" and thought "it would be worth someone else having a look". He is quoted saying that he was unable to transmit his observations and turn on his video camera at the same time.
"I was in the process of relieving myself," he said. CCTV footage showed that after Mr de Menezes entered Stockwell station he slowly descended the escalators before running for a train and sitting down.