Pressure on London police grows over dead Brazilian

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) – London’s police chief faced acute
embarrassment on Wednesday after a leaked report revealed how a
series of blunders led to a Brazilian man being shot dead by
officers who wrongly thought he was a suicide bomber.

Jean Charles de Menezes was shot eight times by police on
an underground train on July 22, the day after four would-be
bombers failed in attacks on London’s transport system.

A campaign group supporting de Menezes’ family said the
killing now resembled a “judicial 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 group, told Reuters.

Initial reports said the Brazilian electrician was dressed
suspiciously, had fled armed officers, vaulted over ticket
barriers and run onto a train.

But leaked documents obtained by ITV News said CCTV footage
and eyewitness accounts showed he was not wearing a padded
jacket which could have concealed a bomb, and walked calmly
through the station, even stopping to collect a free newspaper.

According to witnesses and statements made by police
officers involved, de Menezes then boarded a train and was
restrained by a surveillance officer before he was shot.

The leaked report said the intelligence operation may have
been botched because an officer carrying out surveillance had
gone to the toilet when de Menezes left the building.

London’s Metropolitan police commissioner Ian Blair at
first said the shooting was linked to the failed attacks on
July 21, which came exactly two weeks after four suicide
bombers killed 52 people on three underground trains and a bus.

He said de Menezes had been challenged by officers and had
refused to obey police instructions. He later apologized for
the death.

“There must be serious questions raised about Ian Blair’s
position,” campaigner Rehman added.

Former London police commander John O’Connor said the
revelations were “catastrophic” for Blair and would put his job
under pressure.

“Whoever has leaked this report has caused him a great deal
of embarrassment,” he told BBC TV.

Police and the Home Office (interior ministry) have
declined to comment on the ITV report until the Independent
Police Complaints Commission completes a full investigation.

But campaigners said there should now be a full public
inquiry to clear up whether CCTV footage had captured his final
moments on film, or why cameras were not working as media
reports have suggested.