A composite image comparing Jean Charles de Menezes and Hussain Osman shown to a jury by lawyers for London's Metropolitan Police was dishonestly manipulated by police, it was claimed today.
The picture, containing half the face of innocent Brazilian Mr de Menezes and half the face of terrorist Osman was produced at the force's Old Bailey trial.
Metropolitan Police handout composite image comparing Jean Charles de Menezes (right) and Hussain Osman. The image, shown to a jury by lawyers for the Metropolitan Police was dishonestly manipulated, it was claimed
Police are accused of a "catastrophic" series errors leading to the shooting of Mr de Menezes. The police force denies breaking health and safety laws when officers shot Mr de Menezes (27) seven times in the head on a train at Stockwell Tube station on July 22nd, 2005, after they wrongly identified him as Osman.
It was claimed by police the picture illustrated the difficulties officers would have had in differentiating the two.
But Clare Montgomery QC, prosecuting, told the court that it had been altered "by either stretching or resizing so the face ceases to have its correct proportions".
The judge, Mr Justice Henriques, told the jury: "A serious allegation has been made that a picture has been manipulated so as to mislead."
Today a forensics consultant, Michael George, told the court that the omposite could not have been produced using Powerpoint software, and the pictures used to produce it appeared to have a "greater definition".
He produced an alternative composite, shown to the jury, in which the two faces have different skin tones and their mouths and noses are not aligned.
PA