Jean Charles de Menezes
Encyclopedia
Jean Charles de Menezes ' onMouseout='HidePop("7152")' href="/topics/Brazilian_Portuguese">Brazilian Portuguese
; 7 January 1978 – 22 July 2005) was a Brazilian man shot in the head seven times at Stockwell tube station
on the London Underground
by the London Metropolitan police
, after he was misidentified as one of the fugitive
s involved in the previous day's failed bombing attempts
. These events took place two weeks after the London bombings of 7 July 2005, in which 56 people died.
The shooting became particularly controversial because contemporaneous and later police and media accounts contradicted each other, specifically regarding Menezes's manner and clothing as he entered the station, and whether there had been any police warnings before the firing. The death sparked an intense public debate over an apparent change in police policy, in which a shoot to kill practice known as Operation Kratos
had been introduced to deal with terrorist threats. Because of the controversy the codename "Operation Kratos" was dropped in 2007, but the policy continues.
On the day of the shooting, the police were hunting four men believed to be involved in the failed bombing attempts the day before. Intelligence had linked the men to a block of flats in Tulse Hill
, south London, the same building in which Menezes was living. Police put the communal entrance under surveillance, and on the morning of the shooting, saw Menezes leave the building. Plain clothes officers
, armed with pistols, followed him as he took a bus to Brixton tube station
, before boarding another to Stockwell tube station because the tube station at Brixton was closed. Specialist firearms officers were called to Stockwell. Just after Menezes entered a train, several officers wrestled him to the ground and fired no fewer than seven bullets into his head at point blank range. The train was still at the platform with its doors open, having just been evacuated by officers.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission
(IPCC) launched two investigations, Stockwell 1 and Stockwell 2. Stockwell 1, the findings of which were initially kept secret, concluded that none of the officers would face disciplinary charges. Stockwell 2 strongly criticised the police command structure and communications to the public, bringing pressure on the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair
to resign. In July 2006, the Crown Prosecution Service
said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute any of the officers, although a corporate criminal prosecution of the Metropolitan Police was brought under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. This alleged that the police service had failed in its duty of care
to Menezes. After lodging a not guilty plea, on 1 November 2007 the service was found guilty and was fined, although the jury added that the operational commander on the day, Cressida Dick
, bore "no personal culpability". On 22 September 2008 an inquest was opened. The coroner, Sir Michael Wright, told the jury that they could not return a verdict of unlawful killing
based on the evidence, and on 12 December 2008, they returned an open verdict
.
, Menezes grew up on a farm in Gonzaga
, Minas Gerais
, Brazil
. After discovering an early aptitude for electronics, he left the farm at age 14 to live with his uncle in São Paulo
and further his education. At 19 he received a professional diploma from Escola Estadual (State School) São Sebastião. He had originally wanted to go to the United States but was denied a visa.
According to the Home Office, he arrived in Britain on 13 March 2002, on a six-month visitor's visa. After its expiry, he applied to stay on as a student, and was granted permission to remain until 30 June 2003. The Home Office said it had no record of any further correspondence, but added: "We have seen a copy of Mr Menezes' passport, containing a stamp apparently giving him indefinite leave to remain in the UK. On investigation, this stamp was not one that was in use by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate on the date given." This was denied by the family of Menezes; and Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw
stated that he believed Menezes was living in the UK legally, but had no precise information to confirm this. Immigration records in fact show that Menezes entered the Republic of Ireland from France on 23 April 2005. There are no records to show the exact date that he returned to the UK; however, under the Common Travel Area
system, a foreign citizen entering the UK through the Republic of Ireland has an automatic right to remain for three months. Therefore, Menezes was lawfully in the UK on the day he was killed, irrespective of whether the stamp in his passport recording indefinite leave to remain was a forgery.
On 27 July 2005, Menezes' body was flown to Brazil for burial. His funeral took place in Gonzaga on 29 July 2005. A public memorial service for Menezes was presided over by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor at Westminster Cathedral
around the same time.
report on 16 August 2005 claimed to contain leaked documents from an IPCC investigation. For a summary of the facts and events initially disputed, see Disputed facts and events. For a step-by-step BBC news animated guide to what actually happened, from the day the trial concluded see "What happened: Death of Jean Charles de Menezes".
were searching for four suspects in four attempted bombings carried out the previous day; three at Underground
stations and one on a bus in Hackney
. As the perpetrators had not died in the failed suicide bombing
, a large police investigation and manhunt began immediately. An address in Scotia Road, Tulse Hill, was written on a gym membership card that was found inside one of the unexploded bags used by the bombers.
Menezes, an electrician, lived in one of the flats with two of his cousins, and had just received a call to fix a broken fire alarm in Kilburn. At around 9:30am, officers carrying out surveillance saw Menezes emerge from the communal entrance of the block. The officers were watching three men who they believed may have been Somali, Eritrean, or Ethiopian.
An officer on duty at Scotia Road, referred to as 'Frank' in the Stockwell One report, compared the suspect, Menezes, to the CCTV
photographs of the bombing suspects from the previous day, and felt he warranted further attention. As the officer was allegedly urinating, he was unable to immediately film the suspect to transmit images to Gold Command, the Metropolitan Police ("Met") operational headquarters for major incidents. It was reported at the time that 'Frank' was an undercover soldier. The inquest transcript confirms that he was a soldier on secondment to the surveillance unit.
Documents from the independent agency investigation of the shooting later concluded that mistakes in police surveillance procedure led to a failure to properly identify Menezes early on, leading to rushed assumptions and actions later at Stockwell Tube station
.
. Seeing a notice that the station was closed due to a security alert because of the previous day's attempted bombings, he made a telephone call and reboarded the bus towards Stockwell.
Unaware the station was closed, the surveillance officers believed this behaviour contributed to suspicions that Menezes may have been one of the previous day's failed bomb suspects. They later stated that they were satisfied that they had the correct man, noting that he "had Mongolian eyes". At some point during this journey towards Stockwell Tube station
, 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi) away, the pursuing officers contacted Gold Command, and reported that Menezes potentially matched the description of two of the previous day's suspects, including Osman Hussain
. Based on this information, Gold Command authorised "code red" tactics, and ordered the surveillance officers to prevent Menezes from boarding a train. According to a "senior police source at Scotland Yard", Police Commander Cressida Dick
told the surveillance team that the man was to be "detained as soon as possible", before entering the station. Gold Command then transferred control of the operation to Specialist Firearms Command
(known as 'CO19' or 'SO19'), which dispatched firearms officers to Stockwell Tube Station.
Menezes entered the Tube station at about 10:00am, stopping to pick up a free newspaper. He used his Oyster card
to pay the fare, walked through the barriers, and descended the escalator slowly. He then ran across the platform to board the newly arrived train. Menezes boarded the train and found one of the first available seats.
Three surveillance officers, codenamed Hotel 1, Hotel 3 and Hotel 9, followed Menezes on to the train. According to Hotel 3, Menezes sat down with a glass panel to his right about two seats in. Hotel 3 then took a seat on the left with about two or three passengers between Menezes and himself. When the firearms officers arrived on the platform, Hotel 3 moved to the door, blocked it from closing with his left foot, and shouted 'He's here!' to identify the suspect's location.
Two officers fired a total of eleven shots according to the number of empty shell casings found on the floor of the train afterwards. Menezes was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder at close range, and died at the scene. An eyewitness later said that the eleven shots were fired over a thirty second period, at three second intervals. A separate witness reported hearing five shots, followed at an interval by several more shots.
Immediately after the shooting, the Metropolitan Police stated that the shooting was "directly linked" to the investigation of the attempted bombings the previous day. It was revealed that police policy toward suspected suicide bombers
had been revised, and that officers had been ordered to fire directly toward suspects' heads, the theory according to British authorities being that shooting at the chest could conceivably detonate a concealed bomb.
The SO19 firearms officers involved in the shooting were debriefed and drugs and alcohol tests were taken as a standard procedure. The officers were taken off duty pending an investigation into the shooting. One security agency source said later that members of SO19 received training from the SAS
. He said the operation was not typical of the police, and bore the hallmarks of a special forces operation.
It emerged that hollow point bullets had been employed and a senior police source said that Menezes' body had been "unrecognisable." The bullets are illegal in warfare, but are widely used in law enforcement where it may often be necessary to quickly stop an armed assailant while minimising the risk of collateral damage posed by the use of full metal jacket ammunition, which is more likely to exit the target while retaining its lethal force. A Home Office spokesman said, "Chief officers can use whatever ammunition they consider appropriate for the operational circumstances."
The Menezes family condemned the shooting and rejected the apology. His grandmother said there was "no reason to think he was a terrorist." It was reported that the dead man's family were offered almost £585,000 compensation.
His cousin, Alex Alves Pereira, said, "I believe my cousin's death was result of police incompetence." Pereira said that police claims regarding the incident had been conflicting, and took issue with their pursuit of Menezes for an extended period and their allowing the "suspected suicide bomber" to board a bus. "Why did they let him get on a bus if they are afraid of suicide bombers?… He could have been running, but not from the police… When the Underground stops, everybody runs to get on the train. That he jumped over the barriers is a lie."
The Brazilian government released a statement expressing its shock at the killing, saying that it looked forward "to receiving the necessary explanation from the British authorities on the circumstances which led to this tragedy." Foreign Minister Celso Amorim
, who had already arranged to visit London, said he would seek a meeting with the UK's Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw. He later met ministers and had a telephone conversation with Straw.
The Muslim Council of Britain
expressed immediate concern about the apparent existence of a "shoot-to-kill
" policy and called on police to make clear their reasons for shooting the man dead.
, others condemned the killings as an example of police brutality
.
, was held on 25 July. They state that a thousand people attended and then several hundred people, led by a group of Brazilians (some of whom had been friends with Jean Charles), began an impromptu demonstration. When they approached Westminster
they were stopped and turned back by police at Vauxhall Bridge
, the location of the MI6
building.
On 23 August 2005, Dania Gorodi, whose sister Michelle Otto was killed in the 7 July 2005 London bombings
, asked for an end to the criticism of Sir Ian Blair over the Menezes shooting, which she felt had moved the media focus away from the bombings. "People have lost sight of the bigger picture," she said. "We need to support the police right now, not crucify one man. This is unprecedented in British history. He [Sir Ian] is doing the best he can."
When on 12 September 2006 the Metropolitan Police Authority promoted Commander Cressida Dick to the role of Deputy Assistant Commissioner, the family said they were "absolutely disgusted". The family also criticised the awarding of the Queen's Police Medal to Commander Dick in the 2010 New Year's Day honours.
On 29 September 2008, performance artist Mark McGowan 're-enacted' the killing at Stockwell station, to protest at the current lack of response. He was quoted as saying that "People are distracted by things like The X Factor
and Christmas, so I'm doing this as a reaction".
On the day of Menezes' death, at his mid afternoon press conference, Sir Ian Blair, stated: "I need to make clear that any death is deeply regrettable".
's Directorate of Professional Standards and would be referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission
(IPCC), as is the case with all fatal police shootings.
Immediately after the shooting, Commissioner Sir Ian Blair telephoned the Chairman of the IPCC and wrote a letter to the Home Office describing his instruction that "the shooting that has just occurred at Stockwell is not to be referred to the IPCC and that they will be given no access to the scene at the present time." The letter, later released by the Met under the Freedom of Information Act, expressed the Commissioner's intent to protect the tactics and sources of information used in a counter-terrorism operation from public jeopardising future operations.
, held a press conference where they lamented the "chaotic mess". They stated their desire to ask the IPCC "to find out is how much is incompetence, negligence or gross negligence and how much of it is something sinister."
On 18 August, the IPCC issued a statement in which they said that the Metropolitan Police was initially opposed to them taking on the investigation. They also announced that the inquiry was expected to last between three and six months. The IPCC announced it took over the inquiry on 25 July; the inquiry was handed over until 27 July though.
In May 2006, the Metropolitan Police Federation
released a 12-page statement which was highly critical of the IPCC in general, and specifically criticised the handling of the "Stockwell inquiry".
released a report said to be based on leaked documents from the IPCC investigation which conflicted with previous statements by police chief Sir Ian Blair. The Met and the IPCC refused comment on the allegations while the IPCC investigation was ongoing, though an anonymous 'senior police source' claimed that the leak was accurate.
Lana Vandenberghe, the IPCC secretary thought to be responsible for the leak, was suspended. The IPCC launched an investigation into the leaking of the documents. On 21 September Leicestershire Constabulary Serious Crime Unit initiated dawn raids on behalf of the IPCC on one Scottish and two London residential premises, at which time Vandenberghe was arrested. On 5 October two more dawn raids took place, during which ITN journalist Neil Garrett
and his girlfriend were arrested. On 4 May 2006 the Leicestershire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service announced that no charges would be filed against Vandenberghe, Garrett or his partner.
On 14 March 2006, the IPCC announced that the first part of the inquiry, known as "Stockwell 1" had been completed and recommendations were passed on to the Metropolitan Police Authority and Crown Prosecution Service, but the report "[could not] be made public until all legal processes have concluded."
The report was published on 8 November 2007.
The allegations are that MPS officers "made or concurred with inaccurate public statements concerning the circumstances of the death. The alleged inaccurate information included statements that Mr de Menezes had been wearing clothing and behaving in a manner which aroused suspicions."
, Brian Paddick
. In evidence to the IPCC, Paddick had stated that a member of Sir Ian's private office team believed the wrong man had been targeted just six hours after the shooting, contrary to the official line taken at the time. When this information became public, Scotland Yard issued a statement that the officer making the claim (Paddick) "has categorically denied this in his interview with, and statement to, the IPCC investigators". The statement continued that they "were satisfied that whatever the reasons for this suggestion being made, it is simply not true." Paddick's interpretation of this statement was that it accused him of lying.
After a statement was released on 28 March by the Met that it "did not intend to imply" a senior officer had misled the probe into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, Paddick accepted the "clarification" and considered the matter closed.
In a substantial campaigning Daily Telegraph interview (17 November 2007 – "I know how to make Londoners feel safe") which Paddick gave to support his suitability to become Mayor he addressed a matter that he would probably not have had in mind but for the death of Menezes. "Policing is a dangerous job, we should trust the professional judgement of officers on the front line. We shouldn't prosecute them or their bosses if they decide to put their lives on the line for the public".
, which like the IPCC operates independently of the Met, announced that it would not carry forward any charges against any individual involved in the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. The Met did, however, face criminal charges under sections 3(1) and 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for "failing to provide for the health, safety and welfare of Jean Charles de Menezes".
The decision not to prosecute individuals was made on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
The family of Menezes are appealing against that decision in the High Court.
The Metropolitan Police Service
entered a not guilty plea to the charges, "after the most careful consideration". The trial started on 1 October 2007.
On 1 November 2007, the Metropolitan Police
were found guilty of the above offences, and were fined £175,000, with £385,000 legal costs.
The Met published a terse release about this decision.
and Len Duvall
, Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, asked that the full report on the investigation be published.
followed by armed police when dealing with suspected suicide bombers. Roy Ramm, a former commander of specialist operations for the Metropolitan Police, said that the rules had been changed to permit officers to "shoot to kill
" potential suicide bombers, because a head shot is the only way to disable the bomber without risking detonating their explosives.
The possibility of a police confrontation with a suicide bomber in the United Kingdom had reportedly been discussed following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States. Based on this possibility, new guidelines were developed for identifying, confronting, and dealing forcefully with terrorist suspects. These guidelines were given the code name
"Operation Kratos
".
Based in part on advice from the security forces of Israel and Sri Lanka – two countries with experience of suicide bombings—Operation Kratos guidelines allegedly state that the head or lower limbs should be aimed at when a suspected suicide bomber appears to have no intention of surrendering. This is contrary to the usual practice of aiming at the torso
, which presents the biggest target. A successful hit to the torso may detonate an explosive belt.
Sir Ian Blair appeared on television on 24 July 2005 to accept responsibility for the error on the part of the Metropolitan Police, and to acknowledge and defend the "shoot to kill" policy, saying:
The Met's commissioner Sir Ian Blair, and his predecessor Lord Stevens
, had expressed concern about the legal position of police officers who might kill suspected suicide bombers. There is no explicit legal requirement for armed officers to warn a suspect before firing, although guidelines published by the Association of Chief Police Officers
say that this "should be considered". A potential suicide bomber is thought to represent a circumstance where warning the suspect may put the public at greater risk because the bomber may detonate his explosives after being warned.
Lord Stevens
defended the policy he introduced, despite the error that had been made. Azzam Tamimi
of the Muslim Association of Britain
was critical, saying: "I just cannot imagine how someone pinned to the ground can be a source of danger." Other leaders of the UK's Muslim
community took a similar view. Ken Livingstone
, the then Mayor of London
, defended the police as having acted in the way they thought appropriate at the time, and with the aim of protecting the public.
The police's cognitive bias
may have come into play in this case. Disconfirming evidence that Menezes was the suspect may have been present, but it was interpreted incorrectly. The threat of a suicide bombing on the Underground may have produced stress and time pressures in the department, which in turn can affect a person's decision-making threshold.
Due to the controversy surrounding death of Menezes, the codename of Operation Kratos was dropped from all Police lexicon in 2007–08.
On 16 August 2005, the Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign, also known as 'Justice4Jean', began calling for a public inquiry into the "unlawful killing" of Menezes.
As there has been no legal process to assess the lawfulness or otherwise of the killing, critics argue that the Campaign's first aim to "find out the truth about Jean’s unlawful killing" reflects a prejudging of the issue. Critics such as Conservative London Assembly
man Brian Coleman
have suggested that the involvement of Asad Rehman, a former leader of the Stop the War Coalition
and former adviser to George Galloway
, MP, in the campaign shows that the family's campaign had been "hijacked" and the death of Menezes was being used to "advance a political aim." Galloway's secretary said that Rehman had been acting in "a personal capacity, … not in his role as political adviser", and Menezes family members Alessandro Pereira and Vivien Figueiredo denied any manipulatiion.
The family campaign organised three events in 2005:
The family and their campaign continue to be actively supported by Newham Monitoring Project
; on 22 July 2007 they held a minute of silence outside Stockwell Tube station to commemorate the second anniversary of Menezes' death. Two days earlier the campaign projected a massive image, 20m × 30m, of Menezes' face with the slogan "Two Years, No Justice" on the walls of the Houses of Parliament. The campaign set up a blog for the duration of the inquest starting on 22 September 2008 and released a pre-inquest briefing.
The inquest opened on 22 September 2008 at John Major conference room at The Oval
, Kennington
, London. The coroner, Sir Michael Wright, a former High Court
judge and assistant deputy coroner for Inner South London, and the jury were to hear from almost 70 witnesses, including over 40 police officers.
On the first day, the inquest heard that the police officers who shot Menezes dead were "convinced" at the time that he was a suicide bomber. In his comments, Sir Michael Wright said that the two officers thought Menezes was about to detonate a "device" on the Tube. He took the inquest jury through the events leading up to Menezes' death, listing a number of occasions where officers were unclear whether or not they thought they were pursuing a bomber. The jury was told of differences between what was being relayed on radio and logged in the Scotland Yard control room and how the officers in the field were interpreting the information.
He said that as Menezes entered the Stockwell Tube station, no member of the surveillance team had positively identified him as Hussain Osman. Regarding the decision of the two marksmen to shoot Menezes, Sir Michael said that they had fired nine rounds between them, seven of which had struck Menezes' head at point blank range. He added that the two officers concerned were convinced that Menezes was a suicide bomber about to detonate a device, and that the only option open was an instant killing.
On 13 October the IPCC launched an investigation after a Metropolitan police surveillance officer named only as "Owen" admitted that he had altered evidence submitted to the inquest. The officer had deleted one of his own computer notes which quoted deputy assistant commissioner Cressida Dick as concluding that Menezes was not a security threat. The note said "CD – can run on to tube as not carrying anything".
On 24 October the inquest heard that Menezes was initially not considered as a suspect, and that the police wanted unarmed officers to halt and question him in case he had information about the failed terrorist attack of 21 July 2005. Detective Sergeant Piers Dingemans and a four-man squad were tasked with stopping Menezes for intelligence purposes as he travelled to Stockwell station on a bus. Dingeamans told the inquest that his car was behind the bus when he was stood down at 09: 55, and said he thought this was because Menezes was then considered a suspect.
On 2 December Sir Michael ordered the jury, shortly before it retired to consider its verdict, that they may not return one of "unlawful killing," leaving their options as "lawful killing," or an open verdict
. Sir Michael said that the verdict could not be inconsistent with the earlier criminal trial. As well as the short form verdict of "lawful killing" or "open", Sir Michael also asked them to respond to three questions of fact, and nine possible contributory factors with simple "yes," "no," or "cannot decide" answers. The Menezes family lodged an immediate application for a judicial review
of the decision.
On 4 December, during Sir Michael's summing up, members of the Menezes family got up and undid their jackets exposing printed slogans on their t-shirts, with the wording "Your legal right to decide – unlawful killing verdict," and left the court room after pausing for 30 seconds in front of the jury. The following day, Sir Michael asked the jury to ignore the protest. In his summing up, Sir Michael stated that to return a verdict of lawful killing, the jury should be, "satisfied of two matters on the balance of probabilities: that at the time they fired, Charlie 2 and Charlie 12 honestly believed that Mr de Menezes represented an imminent mortal danger to them and/or others around them; and that they used no more force than was reasonably necessary in the circumstances as they honestly believed them to be."
If the jury was not satisfied on both of these, they were to return an open verdict.
On 9 December, the jury asked the coroner whether they were required to find unanimity on the short form verdict and all of the additional questions. Sir Michael instructed them that they should strive for unanimity, but he would accept a 10–1 or 9–2 verdict. Later that day one of the jury was permanently dismissed owing to travel plans, reducing the jury to 10, and the following day Sir Michael said he would now accept a 9–1 or 8–2 verdict.
On Friday, 12 December 2008 the inquest into Jean Charles' death returned an open verdict. Their answers to the specific questions and contributory facts were as follows
NOTE: The officer identified as "Ivor" was a member of a SO12 Special Branch covert surveillance team who had followed Menezes on the bus and attempted to identify him. He has also been designated as "Hotel 3". The officer identified as "C12" or "Charlie 12" was a member of a CO19 firearms unit who first opened fire and killed Menezes.
In November 2009, the Metropolitan Police reached a compensation deal with the family of Jean Charles de Menezes. This marked the end of litigation between the parties. The amount of compensation was not disclosed.
.
reported that he was dressed in "baseball cap, blue fleece and baggy trousers." Mark Whitby, a witness to the shooting, told Reuters
that he observed Menezes wearing a large winter coat, which "looked out of place". Vivien Figueiredo, a cousin of Menezes, was later told by police that Menezes was wearing a denim jacket on the day of the shooting. Anthony Larkin, another eyewitness, told the BBC that Menezes appeared to be wearing a "bomb belt
with wires coming out."
Based on these eyewitness reports, press speculation at the time said that wearing such heavy clothing on a warm day raised suspicions that Menezes was hiding explosives underneath, and was therefore a potential suicide bomber. At the time of the shooting, the temperature in London (at a Heathrow Airport weather station) was about 17 °C (62 °F).
No device resembling a bomb belt was reported as found. Menezes was also not carrying a tool bag, since he had left it with his work colleague the previous evening. According to the report on leaked IPCC documents, Menezes was wearing a pair of jeans and a light denim jacket. This was confirmed by a photo of his body on the floor of the carriage after the shooting.
Sir Ian Blair
said in a later press conference that a warning was issued prior to the shooting. Lee Ruston, an eyewitness who was waiting on the platform, said the police did not identify themselves. The Times
reported "senior police sources" as saying that police policy would not require a warning to be given to a suspected suicide bomber before lethal action was taken.
The leaked IPCC documents indicated that Menezes was seated on the train carriage when the SO19 armed unit arrived. A shout of 'police' may have been made, but the suspect never really had an opportunity to respond before he was shot. The leaked documents indicated that he was restrained by an undercover officer before being shot.
During the 2008 inquest into Menezes' death, passengers who were travelling in the same carriage also contradicted police accounts, saying that they heard no warnings and that Menezes gave no significant reaction to arrival of the policemen. One passenger said that Menezes appeared calm even as a gun was held to his head and was clear that the police officers did not shout any warnings before shooting him.
In its open verdict on 12 December 2008, the jury decided 8 to 2 that no shouted warning had been given.
to pass through; this was subsequently confirmed by CCTV recordings shown at the Metropolitan Police trial.
The pathologist's post mortem report, which was written five days after the shooting, recorded that Menezes “vaulted over the ticket barriers” and that he “ran down the stairs of the tube station”. Dr Kenneth Shorrock later told the inquest that he had been given this information by police during a "walk-through" with officers at Stockwell Tube Station but he could not remember who had given him this incorrect information, which had also featured in earliest eye-witness reports.
It had been suggested that the man reported by eyewitnesses as jumping over the barrier may have been one of the police officers in pursuit.
footage was available for the ticket area, but that there was a problem with the platform coverage. The source suggested that there was no useful CCTV footage from the platform or the train carriage.
Extracts from a later police report stated that examination of the platform cameras had produced no footage. It said: "It has been established that there has been a technical problem with the CCTV equipment on the relevant platform and no footage exists." It also reported there was no footage from CCTV in the carriage where Menezes was shot, saying "Although there was on-board CCTV in the train, due to previous incidents, the hard drive had been removed and not replaced."
The platform CCTV system is maintained by the Tube Lines consortium in charge of maintaining the Northern Line; unofficial sources from inside the company insisted that the cameras were in working order. It was also reported that London Underground sources insisted that at least three of the four cameras trained on the Stockwell Tube platform were in full working order, and rejected suggestions that the cameras had not been fitted with new tapes after police took away footage from the previous day, 21 July, when suspects in the failed bombings caught trains there.
and may have perceived that he was in a similar situation upon seeing plainclothes officers chasing him. Several sources have speculated that irregularities about his immigration status may have given him reason to be wary of the police; evidence that emerged during the course of the criminal trial into the Health and Safety charge showed that Menezes was lawfully in the country on 22 July 2005. This is mentioned in the Stockwell One report, at footnote 4 on page 21. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a work colleague believed that Menezes ran simply because he was late for his job. It was later indicated by the leaked IPCC documents that Menezes may have run across the platform to get a seat on the train, and did not know at the time that he was being watched or pursued.
The leaked IPCC documents also indicated that an additional three shots had missed Menezes. One witness claimed that the shots were evenly distributed over a timespan of thirty seconds. This has not been substantiated by other witness reports or the leaked IPCC documents.
may have been involved in the shooting. Professor Michael Clarke, Professor of Defence Studies at King's College London
, went as far as to say that unless there had been a major change in policy it was likely that it was not the police who had carried out the shooting, but special forces:
On 4 August 2005, The Guardian
reported that the newly created Special Reconnaissance Regiment
(SRR), a special forces unit specialising in covert surveillance, were involved in the operation that led to the shooting. The anonymous Whitehall
sources who provided the story stressed that the SRR were involved only in intelligence-gathering, and that Menezes was shot by armed police not by members of the SRR or other soldiers. Defence sources would not comment on speculation that SRR soldiers were among the plainclothes officers who followed Menezes on to the No. 2 bus. On 21 August, the Sunday Herald
reported that SRR men are believed to have been in the tube train when the shooting occurred.
Stockwell One states, of the SO12 surveillance teams: (p. 28)
'During July 2005 each surveillance team had a member of the military attached to them. Those soldiers were unarmed.'
In the transcript of the 2008 inquest, some of the soldiers' testimonies are recorded, including that of 'Hotel 11' and that of 'Frank'.
spent several weeks investigating the claim.
After the claim was made public in March 2006, the Menezes family denied the allegation and claimed that the Metropolitan Police were trying to smear
Menezes.
Although the family initially denied the request, a blood sample was eventually taken with their permission from Menezes' autopsy. On 25 April 2006 Scotland Yard announced that forensic tests on the sample had cleared Menezes.
Some have reacted critically to the level of compensation paid by the Metropolitan Police; one commentator, comparing the level or payout to awards at stake in Employment Tribunal
s, speculated that "Perhaps [de Menezes'] life was worth less because he was poor."
, James Ashley
, Harry Stanley
, and the 2 June 2006 Forest Gate raid
.
on 21 January 2009 at 9 pm.
During The Wall Live tour 2011, Roger Waters
of Pink Floyd
added an acoustic coda to "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" with new lyrics in honour of Menezes.
A film about Menezes' life, titled Jean Charles
, was filmed in 2008. Selton Mello
portrays Menezes and Vanessa Giácomo
portrays his cousin. The movie debuted on 26 June 2009, in Brazil.
The documentary play 'Stockwell' opened in July 2009 at the Landor Theatre, in Clapham in London. This play featured actors reading scripts edited by playwright Kieron Barry
from transcripts of the inquest.
This Much is True written by Paul Unwin
(co-creator of the BBC television show Casualty
) and Sarah Beck, is a documentary stage play following the journeys of those caught in the wake of the shooting, weaving together testimony from Jean’s family, Justice4Jean campaigners, senior police officers and lawyers. The production debuted at Theatre 503
in Battersea from 27 October-21 November 2009
A critical account of the shooting was written and recorded as a song "Hollow Point" by Chris Wood
on the album Handmade Life. The song won Song Of The Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
in 2011.
Brazilian Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese is a group of Portuguese dialects written and spoken by most of the 190 million inhabitants of Brazil and by a few million Brazilian emigrants, mainly in the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada, Japan and Paraguay....
; 7 January 1978 – 22 July 2005) was a Brazilian man shot in the head seven times at Stockwell tube station
Stockwell tube station
Stockwell tube station is a London Underground station in Stockwell, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is located on the Northern Line between Oval and Clapham North, and on the Victoria Line between Brixton and Vauxhall. It is the southernmost station on the London Undergound that serves more...
on the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
by the London Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
, after he was misidentified as one of the fugitive
Fugitive
A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from private slavery, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals...
s involved in the previous day's failed bombing attempts
21 July 2005 London bombings
On 21 July 2005, four attempted bomb attacks disrupted part of London's public transport system two weeks after the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The explosions occurred around midday at Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval stations on London Underground, and on a bus in Shoreditch...
. These events took place two weeks after the London bombings of 7 July 2005, in which 56 people died.
The shooting became particularly controversial because contemporaneous and later police and media accounts contradicted each other, specifically regarding Menezes's manner and clothing as he entered the station, and whether there had been any police warnings before the firing. The death sparked an intense public debate over an apparent change in police policy, in which a shoot to kill practice known as Operation Kratos
Operation Kratos
Operation Kratos referred to tactics developed by London's Metropolitan Police Service for dealing with suspected suicide bombers, most notably firing shots to the head without warning....
had been introduced to deal with terrorist threats. Because of the controversy the codename "Operation Kratos" was dropped in 2007, but the policy continues.
On the day of the shooting, the police were hunting four men believed to be involved in the failed bombing attempts the day before. Intelligence had linked the men to a block of flats in Tulse Hill
Tulse Hill
Tulse Hill is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in South London, England. It lies to the south of Brixton, east of Brixton Hill, north of West Norwood and west of West Dulwich.-History:...
, south London, the same building in which Menezes was living. Police put the communal entrance under surveillance, and on the morning of the shooting, saw Menezes leave the building. Plain clothes officers
Covert policing in the United Kingdom
Covert policing is a term in the United Kingdom to describe the practice of policing that is hidden to the public, usually employed in order that an officer can gather intelligence and approach an offender without prompting escape.- Covert policing role :...
, armed with pistols, followed him as he took a bus to Brixton tube station
Brixton tube station
Brixton tube station, a station on the London Underground opened on July 23, 1971, is the southern terminus of the Victoria line.It is located in Brixton Road, and is about 100m from Brixton railway station . From the ticket hall, three escalators take passengers to and from the platforms...
, before boarding another to Stockwell tube station because the tube station at Brixton was closed. Specialist firearms officers were called to Stockwell. Just after Menezes entered a train, several officers wrestled him to the ground and fired no fewer than seven bullets into his head at point blank range. The train was still at the platform with its doors open, having just been evacuated by officers.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission
Independent Police Complaints Commission
The Independent Police Complaints Commission is a non-departmental public body in England and Wales responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales.-Role:...
(IPCC) launched two investigations, Stockwell 1 and Stockwell 2. Stockwell 1, the findings of which were initially kept secret, concluded that none of the officers would face disciplinary charges. Stockwell 2 strongly criticised the police command structure and communications to the public, bringing pressure on the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair
Ian Blair
Ian Warwick Blair, Baron Blair of Boughton, QPM is a retired British Police officer who held the position of commissioner of police of the metropolis from 2005 to 2008 and was the highest ranking officer within the Metropolitan Police Service.On 2 October 2008 Blair announced that he would...
to resign. In July 2006, the Crown Prosecution Service
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute any of the officers, although a corporate criminal prosecution of the Metropolitan Police was brought under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. This alleged that the police service had failed in its duty of care
Duty of care
In tort law, a duty of care is a legal obligation imposed on an individual requiring that they adhere to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseeably harm others. It is the first element that must be established to proceed with an action in negligence. The claimant...
to Menezes. After lodging a not guilty plea, on 1 November 2007 the service was found guilty and was fined, although the jury added that the operational commander on the day, Cressida Dick
Cressida Dick
Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, QPM is a senior officer in London's Metropolitan Police. Before 2005 she attracted little media attention, but became well-known as having been the officer in command of the operation which led to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes...
, bore "no personal culpability". On 22 September 2008 an inquest was opened. The coroner, Sir Michael Wright, told the jury that they could not return a verdict of unlawful killing
Unlawful killing
In English law unlawful killing is a verdict that can be returned by an inquest in England and Wales when someone has been killed by one or several unknown persons. The verdict means that the killing was done without lawful excuse and in breach of criminal law. This includes murder, manslaughter,...
based on the evidence, and on 12 December 2008, they returned an open verdict
Open verdict
The Open verdict is an option open to a Coroner's jury at an Inquest in the legal system of England and Wales. The verdict strictly means that the jury confirms that the death is suspicious but is unable to reach any of the other verdicts open to them...
.
Biography
The son of a bricklayerBricklayer
A bricklayer or mason is a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The term also refers to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. In British and Australian English, a bricklayer is colloquially known as a "brickie".The training of a trade in...
, Menezes grew up on a farm in Gonzaga
Gonzaga, Minas Gerais
Gonzaga is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. It is situated in the Governador Valadares metropolitan area.Its population was estimated at 5,482 in 2004.It is Jean Charles de Menezes' native city....
, Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. After discovering an early aptitude for electronics, he left the farm at age 14 to live with his uncle in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
and further his education. At 19 he received a professional diploma from Escola Estadual (State School) São Sebastião. He had originally wanted to go to the United States but was denied a visa.
According to the Home Office, he arrived in Britain on 13 March 2002, on a six-month visitor's visa. After its expiry, he applied to stay on as a student, and was granted permission to remain until 30 June 2003. The Home Office said it had no record of any further correspondence, but added: "We have seen a copy of Mr Menezes' passport, containing a stamp apparently giving him indefinite leave to remain in the UK. On investigation, this stamp was not one that was in use by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate on the date given." This was denied by the family of Menezes; and Foreign Secretary
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
Jack Straw
Jack Straw
Jack Straw , British politician.Jack Straw may also refer to:* Jack Straw , English* "Jack Straw" , 1971 song by the Grateful Dead* Jack Straw by W...
stated that he believed Menezes was living in the UK legally, but had no precise information to confirm this. Immigration records in fact show that Menezes entered the Republic of Ireland from France on 23 April 2005. There are no records to show the exact date that he returned to the UK; however, under the Common Travel Area
Common Travel Area
The Common Travel Area is a passport-free zone that comprises the islands of Ireland, Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The area's internal borders are subject to minimal or non-existent border controls and can normally be crossed by Irish and British citizens with only...
system, a foreign citizen entering the UK through the Republic of Ireland has an automatic right to remain for three months. Therefore, Menezes was lawfully in the UK on the day he was killed, irrespective of whether the stamp in his passport recording indefinite leave to remain was a forgery.
On 27 July 2005, Menezes' body was flown to Brazil for burial. His funeral took place in Gonzaga on 29 July 2005. A public memorial service for Menezes was presided over by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor at Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral in London is the mother church of the Catholic community in England and Wales and the Metropolitan Church and Cathedral of the Archbishop of Westminster...
around the same time.
Menezes shooting
Almost all of the facts regarding the Menezes shooting were initially disputed by various parties. Contradictory witness accounts, 'off the record' statements from police, and media speculation added to the confusion. An ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
report on 16 August 2005 claimed to contain leaked documents from an IPCC investigation. For a summary of the facts and events initially disputed, see Disputed facts and events. For a step-by-step BBC news animated guide to what actually happened, from the day the trial concluded see "What happened: Death of Jean Charles de Menezes".
Suspects
On 22 July 2005, London policeMetropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
were searching for four suspects in four attempted bombings carried out the previous day; three at Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
stations and one on a bus in Hackney
London Borough of Hackney
The London Borough of Hackney is a London borough of North/North East London, and forms part of inner London. The local authority is Hackney London Borough Council....
. As the perpetrators had not died in the failed suicide bombing
Suicide attack
A suicide attack is a type of attack in which the attacker expects or intends to die in the process.- Historical :...
, a large police investigation and manhunt began immediately. An address in Scotia Road, Tulse Hill, was written on a gym membership card that was found inside one of the unexploded bags used by the bombers.
Menezes, an electrician, lived in one of the flats with two of his cousins, and had just received a call to fix a broken fire alarm in Kilburn. At around 9:30am, officers carrying out surveillance saw Menezes emerge from the communal entrance of the block. The officers were watching three men who they believed may have been Somali, Eritrean, or Ethiopian.
An officer on duty at Scotia Road, referred to as 'Frank' in the Stockwell One report, compared the suspect, Menezes, to the CCTV
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
photographs of the bombing suspects from the previous day, and felt he warranted further attention. As the officer was allegedly urinating, he was unable to immediately film the suspect to transmit images to Gold Command, the Metropolitan Police ("Met") operational headquarters for major incidents. It was reported at the time that 'Frank' was an undercover soldier. The inquest transcript confirms that he was a soldier on secondment to the surveillance unit.
Identification
On the basis of "Frank"'s suspicion, Gold Command authorised officers to continue pursuit and surveillance, and ordered that the suspect was to be prevented from entering the Tube system.Documents from the independent agency investigation of the shooting later concluded that mistakes in police surveillance procedure led to a failure to properly identify Menezes early on, leading to rushed assumptions and actions later at Stockwell Tube station
Stockwell tube station
Stockwell tube station is a London Underground station in Stockwell, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is located on the Northern Line between Oval and Clapham North, and on the Victoria Line between Brixton and Vauxhall. It is the southernmost station on the London Undergound that serves more...
.
Pursuit
The officers followed Menezes to a bus-stop for the number 2 bus on Tulse Hill where several plainclothes police officers boarded. Menezes briefly got off the bus at Brixton StationBrixton tube station
Brixton tube station, a station on the London Underground opened on July 23, 1971, is the southern terminus of the Victoria line.It is located in Brixton Road, and is about 100m from Brixton railway station . From the ticket hall, three escalators take passengers to and from the platforms...
. Seeing a notice that the station was closed due to a security alert because of the previous day's attempted bombings, he made a telephone call and reboarded the bus towards Stockwell.
Unaware the station was closed, the surveillance officers believed this behaviour contributed to suspicions that Menezes may have been one of the previous day's failed bomb suspects. They later stated that they were satisfied that they had the correct man, noting that he "had Mongolian eyes". At some point during this journey towards Stockwell Tube station
Stockwell tube station
Stockwell tube station is a London Underground station in Stockwell, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is located on the Northern Line between Oval and Clapham North, and on the Victoria Line between Brixton and Vauxhall. It is the southernmost station on the London Undergound that serves more...
, 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi) away, the pursuing officers contacted Gold Command, and reported that Menezes potentially matched the description of two of the previous day's suspects, including Osman Hussain
Osman Hussain
Osman Hussain was found guilty of having placed an explosive at the Shepherd's Bush tube station during the failed 21 July 2005 London bombings...
. Based on this information, Gold Command authorised "code red" tactics, and ordered the surveillance officers to prevent Menezes from boarding a train. According to a "senior police source at Scotland Yard", Police Commander Cressida Dick
Cressida Dick
Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, QPM is a senior officer in London's Metropolitan Police. Before 2005 she attracted little media attention, but became well-known as having been the officer in command of the operation which led to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes...
told the surveillance team that the man was to be "detained as soon as possible", before entering the station. Gold Command then transferred control of the operation to Specialist Firearms Command
Specialist Firearms Command
Central Operations Specialist Firearms Command is a Central Operations branch within Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service. The Command is responsible for providing a firearms-response capability, assisting the rest of the service, which is normally unarmed...
(known as 'CO19' or 'SO19'), which dispatched firearms officers to Stockwell Tube Station.
Oyster card
The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport services within the Greater London area of the United Kingdom. It is promoted by Transport for London and is valid on a number of different travel systems across London including London Underground, buses, the Docklands...
to pay the fare, walked through the barriers, and descended the escalator slowly. He then ran across the platform to board the newly arrived train. Menezes boarded the train and found one of the first available seats.
Three surveillance officers, codenamed Hotel 1, Hotel 3 and Hotel 9, followed Menezes on to the train. According to Hotel 3, Menezes sat down with a glass panel to his right about two seats in. Hotel 3 then took a seat on the left with about two or three passengers between Menezes and himself. When the firearms officers arrived on the platform, Hotel 3 moved to the door, blocked it from closing with his left foot, and shouted 'He's here!' to identify the suspect's location.
Shooting
The firearms officers boarded the train and it was initially claimed they challenged the suspect, though later report indicates he was not challenged. According to Hotel 3, Menezes then stood up and advanced towards the officers and Hotel 3, at which point Hotel 3 grabbed him, pinned his arms against his torso, and pushed him back into the seat. Although Menezes was being restrained, his body was straight and not in a natural sitting position. Hotel 3 heard a shot close to his ear, and was dragged away on to the floor of the carriage. He shouted 'Police!' and with hands raised was dragged out of the carriage by one of the armed officers who had boarded the train. Hotel 3 then heard several gunshots while being dragged out.Two officers fired a total of eleven shots according to the number of empty shell casings found on the floor of the train afterwards. Menezes was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder at close range, and died at the scene. An eyewitness later said that the eleven shots were fired over a thirty second period, at three second intervals. A separate witness reported hearing five shots, followed at an interval by several more shots.
Immediately after the shooting, the Metropolitan Police stated that the shooting was "directly linked" to the investigation of the attempted bombings the previous day. It was revealed that police policy toward suspected suicide bombers
Suicide Bombers
Suicide Bombers is the name of a 2005 EP by Leæther Strip. For the Australian hardcore band see Suicide Bombers -Track listing:# Suicide Bombers# Suicide Bombers # The Shame Of A Nation # This Is Where I Wanna Be...
had been revised, and that officers had been ordered to fire directly toward suspects' heads, the theory according to British authorities being that shooting at the chest could conceivably detonate a concealed bomb.
The SO19 firearms officers involved in the shooting were debriefed and drugs and alcohol tests were taken as a standard procedure. The officers were taken off duty pending an investigation into the shooting. One security agency source said later that members of SO19 received training from the SAS
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
. He said the operation was not typical of the police, and bore the hallmarks of a special forces operation.
It emerged that hollow point bullets had been employed and a senior police source said that Menezes' body had been "unrecognisable." The bullets are illegal in warfare, but are widely used in law enforcement where it may often be necessary to quickly stop an armed assailant while minimising the risk of collateral damage posed by the use of full metal jacket ammunition, which is more likely to exit the target while retaining its lethal force. A Home Office spokesman said, "Chief officers can use whatever ammunition they consider appropriate for the operational circumstances."
Aftermath
The day after the shooting, the Metropolitan Police identified the victim as Jean Charles de Menezes, and said that he had not been carrying explosives, nor was he connected in any way to the attempted bombings. They issued an apology describing the incident as "a tragedy, and one that the Metropolitan Police Service regrets."The Menezes family condemned the shooting and rejected the apology. His grandmother said there was "no reason to think he was a terrorist." It was reported that the dead man's family were offered almost £585,000 compensation.
His cousin, Alex Alves Pereira, said, "I believe my cousin's death was result of police incompetence." Pereira said that police claims regarding the incident had been conflicting, and took issue with their pursuit of Menezes for an extended period and their allowing the "suspected suicide bomber" to board a bus. "Why did they let him get on a bus if they are afraid of suicide bombers?… He could have been running, but not from the police… When the Underground stops, everybody runs to get on the train. That he jumped over the barriers is a lie."
The Brazilian government released a statement expressing its shock at the killing, saying that it looked forward "to receiving the necessary explanation from the British authorities on the circumstances which led to this tragedy." Foreign Minister Celso Amorim
Celso Amorim
Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim is a Brazilian diplomat who has been Minister of Defence since August 2011. Amorim was the Minister of Foreign Relations from 1993 to 1995 under President Itamar Franco and again from 2003 to 2011 under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.Before his appointment by Lula,...
, who had already arranged to visit London, said he would seek a meeting with the UK's Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw. He later met ministers and had a telephone conversation with Straw.
The Muslim Council of Britain
Muslim Council of Britain
The Muslim Council of Britain is a self-appointed umbrella body for national, regional, local and specialist organisations and institutions from different ethnic and sectarian backgrounds within British Islamic society. It was established in 1997 to help Muslims, to increase education about the...
expressed immediate concern about the apparent existence of a "shoot-to-kill
Operation Kratos
Operation Kratos referred to tactics developed by London's Metropolitan Police Service for dealing with suspected suicide bombers, most notably firing shots to the head without warning....
" policy and called on police to make clear their reasons for shooting the man dead.
Public reaction
The early reaction of the British public to the shooting was mixed. While some sympathised with the need for the police officer in question to make a split-second decision, and saw it as a case of collateral damageCollateral damage
Collateral damage is damage to people or property that is unintended or incidental to the intended outcome. The phrase is prevalently used as an euphemism for civilian casualties of a military action.-Etymology:...
, others condemned the killings as an example of police brutality
Police brutality
Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
.
In Britain
A vigil at Stockwell Station was held with some of the relatives on the Sunday immediately following the shooting and police apology. Another, called by the Stop the War CoalitionStop the War Coalition
The Stop the War Coalition is a United Kingdom group set up on 21 September 2001 that campaigns against what it believes are unjust wars....
, was held on 25 July. They state that a thousand people attended and then several hundred people, led by a group of Brazilians (some of whom had been friends with Jean Charles), began an impromptu demonstration. When they approached Westminster
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
they were stopped and turned back by police at Vauxhall Bridge
Vauxhall Bridge
Vauxhall Bridge is a Grade II* listed steel and granite deck arch bridge in central London. It crosses the River Thames in a south–east north–west direction between Vauxhall on the south bank and Pimlico on the north bank...
, the location of the MI6
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
building.
On 23 August 2005, Dania Gorodi, whose sister Michelle Otto was killed in the 7 July 2005 London bombings
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
, asked for an end to the criticism of Sir Ian Blair over the Menezes shooting, which she felt had moved the media focus away from the bombings. "People have lost sight of the bigger picture," she said. "We need to support the police right now, not crucify one man. This is unprecedented in British history. He [Sir Ian] is doing the best he can."
When on 12 September 2006 the Metropolitan Police Authority promoted Commander Cressida Dick to the role of Deputy Assistant Commissioner, the family said they were "absolutely disgusted". The family also criticised the awarding of the Queen's Police Medal to Commander Dick in the 2010 New Year's Day honours.
On 29 September 2008, performance artist Mark McGowan 're-enacted' the killing at Stockwell station, to protest at the current lack of response. He was quoted as saying that "People are distracted by things like The X Factor
The X Factor (TV series)
The X Factor is a television talent show franchise originating in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for Pop Idol. It is a singing competition, now held in various countries, which pits contestants against each other. These contestants are aspiring pop singers drawn from...
and Christmas, so I'm doing this as a reaction".
Police comments
Senior Scotland Yard officer Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alan Given, who had operational responsibilities in relation to the officers who had actually killed Menezes, said, "... when it came to the Stockwell shooting, there was a sense that it was no different from an incident such as police shooting a bank robber".On the day of Menezes' death, at his mid afternoon press conference, Sir Ian Blair, stated: "I need to make clear that any death is deeply regrettable".
In Brazil
The reaction of the Brazilian public was overwhelmingly negative. Protests and demonstrations were held in Brazil, and some Brazilian commentators noted that incidents such as Menezes' killing are more expected from a developing country such as Brazil than a developed nation like the UK.Independent Police Complaints Commission inquiry
Several days after the discovery of the mistaken shooting, it was announced that the incident would be subject to an internal investigation by officers from Scotland YardScotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
's Directorate of Professional Standards and would be referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission
Independent Police Complaints Commission
The Independent Police Complaints Commission is a non-departmental public body in England and Wales responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales.-Role:...
(IPCC), as is the case with all fatal police shootings.
Immediately after the shooting, Commissioner Sir Ian Blair telephoned the Chairman of the IPCC and wrote a letter to the Home Office describing his instruction that "the shooting that has just occurred at Stockwell is not to be referred to the IPCC and that they will be given no access to the scene at the present time." The letter, later released by the Met under the Freedom of Information Act, expressed the Commissioner's intent to protect the tactics and sources of information used in a counter-terrorism operation from public jeopardising future operations.
Controversy between the Met and IPCC
On 18 August, lawyers representing the Menezes family met with the IPCC and urged them to conduct a "fast" investigation. The lawyers, Harriet Wistrich and Gareth PeirceGareth Peirce
Gareth Peirce is an English solicitor, educated at the Cheltenham Ladies' College, the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics. She is known for her work in high profile cases representing people with Irish and Muslim backgrounds accused of terrorism.-Personal life:Born with the...
, held a press conference where they lamented the "chaotic mess". They stated their desire to ask the IPCC "to find out is how much is incompetence, negligence or gross negligence and how much of it is something sinister."
On 18 August, the IPCC issued a statement in which they said that the Metropolitan Police was initially opposed to them taking on the investigation. They also announced that the inquiry was expected to last between three and six months. The IPCC announced it took over the inquiry on 25 July; the inquiry was handed over until 27 July though.
In May 2006, the Metropolitan Police Federation
Metropolitan Police Federation
The Metropolitan Police Federation is a staff association that represents the interests of all police in the Metropolitan Police Service up to the rank of Chief Inspector...
released a 12-page statement which was highly critical of the IPCC in general, and specifically criticised the handling of the "Stockwell inquiry".
Leak of inquiry
On 16 August 2005, British broadcast network ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
released a report said to be based on leaked documents from the IPCC investigation which conflicted with previous statements by police chief Sir Ian Blair. The Met and the IPCC refused comment on the allegations while the IPCC investigation was ongoing, though an anonymous 'senior police source' claimed that the leak was accurate.
Lana Vandenberghe, the IPCC secretary thought to be responsible for the leak, was suspended. The IPCC launched an investigation into the leaking of the documents. On 21 September Leicestershire Constabulary Serious Crime Unit initiated dawn raids on behalf of the IPCC on one Scottish and two London residential premises, at which time Vandenberghe was arrested. On 5 October two more dawn raids took place, during which ITN journalist Neil Garrett
Neil Garrett
Neil David Garrett is a British television producer/director.Garrett began his career in television in 1999, and became a producer for ITV News in 2003. In August 2005 he secured the leak into the investigation of the death of Jean Charles De Menezes...
and his girlfriend were arrested. On 4 May 2006 the Leicestershire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service announced that no charges would be filed against Vandenberghe, Garrett or his partner.
Stockwell 1
According to a press release made on 9 December by the IPCC's chairman Nick Hardwick and John Tate, its Director of Legal Services, the inquiry's report would list some of the criminal offences that the commission thought may have been committed by police. Though without having reached any conclusions, they also admitted the commission's judgement would be a "lower threshold" than the standard prosecutors would apply in making any final decision to prosecute.On 14 March 2006, the IPCC announced that the first part of the inquiry, known as "Stockwell 1" had been completed and recommendations were passed on to the Metropolitan Police Authority and Crown Prosecution Service, but the report "[could not] be made public until all legal processes have concluded."
The report was published on 8 November 2007.
Stockwell 2
"Stockwell 2", the second part of the inquiry, focuses on the conduct of Sir Ian Blair and Andrew Hayman following the discovery of Menezes' identity, was released on 2 August 2007.The allegations are that MPS officers "made or concurred with inaccurate public statements concerning the circumstances of the death. The alleged inaccurate information included statements that Mr de Menezes had been wearing clothing and behaving in a manner which aroused suspicions."
Brian Paddick
On 17 March 2006, the Met was threatened with legal action by Deputy Assistant CommissionerDeputy Assistant Commissioner
Deputy assistant commissioner is a rank in London's Metropolitan Police Service between assistant commissioner and commander. It is equivalent to deputy chief constable in other British police forces and wears the same insignia: a pip above crossed tipstaves within a wreath.The rank was introduced...
, Brian Paddick
Brian Paddick
Brian Leonard Paddick is a British politician, and was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the London mayoral election, 2008, coming third behind Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone...
. In evidence to the IPCC, Paddick had stated that a member of Sir Ian's private office team believed the wrong man had been targeted just six hours after the shooting, contrary to the official line taken at the time. When this information became public, Scotland Yard issued a statement that the officer making the claim (Paddick) "has categorically denied this in his interview with, and statement to, the IPCC investigators". The statement continued that they "were satisfied that whatever the reasons for this suggestion being made, it is simply not true." Paddick's interpretation of this statement was that it accused him of lying.
After a statement was released on 28 March by the Met that it "did not intend to imply" a senior officer had misled the probe into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, Paddick accepted the "clarification" and considered the matter closed.
In a substantial campaigning Daily Telegraph interview (17 November 2007 – "I know how to make Londoners feel safe") which Paddick gave to support his suitability to become Mayor he addressed a matter that he would probably not have had in mind but for the death of Menezes. "Policing is a dangerous job, we should trust the professional judgement of officers on the front line. We shouldn't prosecute them or their bosses if they decide to put their lives on the line for the public".
Investigation into suppression of evidence
On 13 October 2008, at an inquest into the death, a police surveillance officer admitted that he had deleted a computer record of Cressida Dick's instruction that they could allow Menezes to "run on to Tube as [he was] not carrying anything." At the inquest he told the court that "On reflection, I looked at that and thought I cannot actually say that." The IPCC announced that it would investigate the matter "[at its] highest level of investigation".Result of CPS review
In July 2006, the Crown Prosecution ServiceCrown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
, which like the IPCC operates independently of the Met, announced that it would not carry forward any charges against any individual involved in the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. The Met did, however, face criminal charges under sections 3(1) and 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for "failing to provide for the health, safety and welfare of Jean Charles de Menezes".
The decision not to prosecute individuals was made on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
The family of Menezes are appealing against that decision in the High Court.
The Metropolitan Police Service
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
entered a not guilty plea to the charges, "after the most careful consideration". The trial started on 1 October 2007.
On 1 November 2007, the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
were found guilty of the above offences, and were fined £175,000, with £385,000 legal costs.
The Met published a terse release about this decision.
and Len Duvall
Len Duvall
Len Duvall OBE is a Labour Party politician, member of the London Assembly and a former chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority.Duvall was born and raised in Woolwich...
, Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, asked that the full report on the investigation be published.
Controversy over police procedure
Much discussion following the shooting centred on the rules of engagementRules of engagement
Rules of Engagement refers to those responses that are permitted in the employment of military personnel during operations or in the course of their duties. These rules of engagement are determined by the legal framework within which these duties are being carried out...
followed by armed police when dealing with suspected suicide bombers. Roy Ramm, a former commander of specialist operations for the Metropolitan Police, said that the rules had been changed to permit officers to "shoot to kill
Operation Kratos
Operation Kratos referred to tactics developed by London's Metropolitan Police Service for dealing with suspected suicide bombers, most notably firing shots to the head without warning....
" potential suicide bombers, because a head shot is the only way to disable the bomber without risking detonating their explosives.
The possibility of a police confrontation with a suicide bomber in the United Kingdom had reportedly been discussed following the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States. Based on this possibility, new guidelines were developed for identifying, confronting, and dealing forcefully with terrorist suspects. These guidelines were given the code name
Code name
A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage...
"Operation Kratos
Operation Kratos
Operation Kratos referred to tactics developed by London's Metropolitan Police Service for dealing with suspected suicide bombers, most notably firing shots to the head without warning....
".
Based in part on advice from the security forces of Israel and Sri Lanka – two countries with experience of suicide bombings—Operation Kratos guidelines allegedly state that the head or lower limbs should be aimed at when a suspected suicide bomber appears to have no intention of surrendering. This is contrary to the usual practice of aiming at the torso
Torso
Trunk or torso is an anatomical term for the central part of the many animal bodies from which extend the neck and limbs. The trunk includes the thorax and abdomen.-Major organs:...
, which presents the biggest target. A successful hit to the torso may detonate an explosive belt.
Sir Ian Blair appeared on television on 24 July 2005 to accept responsibility for the error on the part of the Metropolitan Police, and to acknowledge and defend the "shoot to kill" policy, saying:
- "There is no point in shooting at someone's chest because that is where the bomb is likely to be. There is no point in shooting anywhere else if they fall down and detonate it."
The Met's commissioner Sir Ian Blair, and his predecessor Lord Stevens
John Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington
John Arthur Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington KStJ QPM DL FRSA was Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2000 until 2005. From 1991 to 1996, he was Chief Constable of Northumbria Police before being appointed one of HM Inspectors of Constabulary in September 1996...
, had expressed concern about the legal position of police officers who might kill suspected suicide bombers. There is no explicit legal requirement for armed officers to warn a suspect before firing, although guidelines published by the Association of Chief Police Officers
Association of Chief Police Officers
The Association of Chief Police Officers , established in 1948, is a private limited company that leads the development of policing practice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.ACPO provides a forum for chief police officers to share ideas and coordinates the strategic...
say that this "should be considered". A potential suicide bomber is thought to represent a circumstance where warning the suspect may put the public at greater risk because the bomber may detonate his explosives after being warned.
Lord Stevens
John Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington
John Arthur Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington KStJ QPM DL FRSA was Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 2000 until 2005. From 1991 to 1996, he was Chief Constable of Northumbria Police before being appointed one of HM Inspectors of Constabulary in September 1996...
defended the policy he introduced, despite the error that had been made. Azzam Tamimi
Azzam Tamimi
Azzam Tamimi is a British Palestinian academic and political activist. He is currently the director of Institute of Islamic Political Thought in London and appears regularly on al-Jazeera, Press TV and other Arabic and English language television stations, and frequently publishes opinion pieces...
of the Muslim Association of Britain
Muslim Association of Britain
The Muslim Association of Britain is an Islamic organisation in the United Kingdom established in 1997.-Anti-war activities:Along with Stop the War Coalition and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, it has co-sponsored various demonstrations against the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq...
was critical, saying: "I just cannot imagine how someone pinned to the ground can be a source of danger." Other leaders of the UK's Muslim
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
community took a similar view. Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
, the then Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
, defended the police as having acted in the way they thought appropriate at the time, and with the aim of protecting the public.
The police's cognitive bias
Cognitive bias
A cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in judgment that occurs in particular situations. Implicit in the concept of a "pattern of deviation" is a standard of comparison; this may be the judgment of people outside those particular situations, or may be a set of independently verifiable...
may have come into play in this case. Disconfirming evidence that Menezes was the suspect may have been present, but it was interpreted incorrectly. The threat of a suicide bombing on the Underground may have produced stress and time pressures in the department, which in turn can affect a person's decision-making threshold.
Due to the controversy surrounding death of Menezes, the codename of Operation Kratos was dropped from all Police lexicon in 2007–08.
The Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign
As there has been no legal process to assess the lawfulness or otherwise of the killing, critics argue that the Campaign's first aim to "find out the truth about Jean’s unlawful killing" reflects a prejudging of the issue. Critics such as Conservative London Assembly
London Assembly
The London Assembly is an elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds majority, to amend the mayor's annual budget. The assembly was established in 2000 and is headquartered at City Hall on the south...
man Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman FRSA is a Conservative Party politician and member of the London Assembly for Barnet and Camden, England. He is a Councillor in the London Borough of Barnet, and was Mayor for 2009-2010....
have suggested that the involvement of Asad Rehman, a former leader of the Stop the War Coalition
Stop the War Coalition
The Stop the War Coalition is a United Kingdom group set up on 21 September 2001 that campaigns against what it believes are unjust wars....
and former adviser to George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
, MP, in the campaign shows that the family's campaign had been "hijacked" and the death of Menezes was being used to "advance a political aim." Galloway's secretary said that Rehman had been acting in "a personal capacity, … not in his role as political adviser", and Menezes family members Alessandro Pereira and Vivien Figueiredo denied any manipulatiion.
The family campaign organised three events in 2005:
- On 29 July, a vigil in Parliament Square and a multi-faith memorial service at Westminster Cathedral were held at the same time as Menezes' funeral in Brazil.
- On 22 August, a petition asking for a public inquiry was delivered to Downing Street10 Downing Street10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
by Menezes family member Alessandro Pereira and members of Justice4Jean. The protestors made their way from Downing Street to Scotland YardScotland YardScotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
, together with the relatives of Paul Coker and Azelle Rodney, individuals who also died in London police incidents in 2005. - On 10 October, the campaign was launched at the London School of Economics with Menezes' parents, the family lawyer Gareth PeirceGareth PeirceGareth Peirce is an English solicitor, educated at the Cheltenham Ladies' College, the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics. She is known for her work in high profile cases representing people with Irish and Muslim backgrounds accused of terrorism.-Personal life:Born with the...
, Bianca JaggerBianca JaggerBianca Jagger is a Nicaraguan-born social and human rights advocate and a former actress and model...
, Matthew Taylor MP and Irene KhanIrene KhanIrene Zubaida Khan is a Bangladeshi human rights activist. She was the seventh Secretary General of Amnesty International until her resignation on 31 December 2009. She was appointed as a member of the Charity Commission of England and Wales on 1 January 2010 but resigned after a controversy over...
from Amnesty InternationalAmnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
.
The family and their campaign continue to be actively supported by Newham Monitoring Project
Newham Monitoring Project
Newham Monitoring Project is a grassroots community-based anti-racist organisation in the London Borough of Newham, London, England with a remit to provide support work against racial discrimination and violence, police misconduct and around civil rights issues. It provides advice, support,...
; on 22 July 2007 they held a minute of silence outside Stockwell Tube station to commemorate the second anniversary of Menezes' death. Two days earlier the campaign projected a massive image, 20m × 30m, of Menezes' face with the slogan "Two Years, No Justice" on the walls of the Houses of Parliament. The campaign set up a blog for the duration of the inquest starting on 22 September 2008 and released a pre-inquest briefing.
Inquest
The Oval
The Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
, Kennington
Kennington
Kennington is a district of South London, England, mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, although part of the area is within the London Borough of Southwark....
, London. The coroner, Sir Michael Wright, a former High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
judge and assistant deputy coroner for Inner South London, and the jury were to hear from almost 70 witnesses, including over 40 police officers.
On the first day, the inquest heard that the police officers who shot Menezes dead were "convinced" at the time that he was a suicide bomber. In his comments, Sir Michael Wright said that the two officers thought Menezes was about to detonate a "device" on the Tube. He took the inquest jury through the events leading up to Menezes' death, listing a number of occasions where officers were unclear whether or not they thought they were pursuing a bomber. The jury was told of differences between what was being relayed on radio and logged in the Scotland Yard control room and how the officers in the field were interpreting the information.
He said that as Menezes entered the Stockwell Tube station, no member of the surveillance team had positively identified him as Hussain Osman. Regarding the decision of the two marksmen to shoot Menezes, Sir Michael said that they had fired nine rounds between them, seven of which had struck Menezes' head at point blank range. He added that the two officers concerned were convinced that Menezes was a suicide bomber about to detonate a device, and that the only option open was an instant killing.
On 13 October the IPCC launched an investigation after a Metropolitan police surveillance officer named only as "Owen" admitted that he had altered evidence submitted to the inquest. The officer had deleted one of his own computer notes which quoted deputy assistant commissioner Cressida Dick as concluding that Menezes was not a security threat. The note said "CD – can run on to tube as not carrying anything".
On 24 October the inquest heard that Menezes was initially not considered as a suspect, and that the police wanted unarmed officers to halt and question him in case he had information about the failed terrorist attack of 21 July 2005. Detective Sergeant Piers Dingemans and a four-man squad were tasked with stopping Menezes for intelligence purposes as he travelled to Stockwell station on a bus. Dingeamans told the inquest that his car was behind the bus when he was stood down at 09: 55, and said he thought this was because Menezes was then considered a suspect.
On 2 December Sir Michael ordered the jury, shortly before it retired to consider its verdict, that they may not return one of "unlawful killing," leaving their options as "lawful killing," or an open verdict
Open verdict
The Open verdict is an option open to a Coroner's jury at an Inquest in the legal system of England and Wales. The verdict strictly means that the jury confirms that the death is suspicious but is unable to reach any of the other verdicts open to them...
. Sir Michael said that the verdict could not be inconsistent with the earlier criminal trial. As well as the short form verdict of "lawful killing" or "open", Sir Michael also asked them to respond to three questions of fact, and nine possible contributory factors with simple "yes," "no," or "cannot decide" answers. The Menezes family lodged an immediate application for a judicial review
Judicial review
Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority...
of the decision.
On 4 December, during Sir Michael's summing up, members of the Menezes family got up and undid their jackets exposing printed slogans on their t-shirts, with the wording "Your legal right to decide – unlawful killing verdict," and left the court room after pausing for 30 seconds in front of the jury. The following day, Sir Michael asked the jury to ignore the protest. In his summing up, Sir Michael stated that to return a verdict of lawful killing, the jury should be, "satisfied of two matters on the balance of probabilities: that at the time they fired, Charlie 2 and Charlie 12 honestly believed that Mr de Menezes represented an imminent mortal danger to them and/or others around them; and that they used no more force than was reasonably necessary in the circumstances as they honestly believed them to be."
If the jury was not satisfied on both of these, they were to return an open verdict.
On 9 December, the jury asked the coroner whether they were required to find unanimity on the short form verdict and all of the additional questions. Sir Michael instructed them that they should strive for unanimity, but he would accept a 10–1 or 9–2 verdict. Later that day one of the jury was permanently dismissed owing to travel plans, reducing the jury to 10, and the following day Sir Michael said he would now accept a 9–1 or 8–2 verdict.
On Friday, 12 December 2008 the inquest into Jean Charles' death returned an open verdict. Their answers to the specific questions and contributory facts were as follows
| Questions of fact | |
|---|---|
| Did firearms officer C12 shout "armed police"? | |
| Did Mr Menezes stand up from his seat before he was grabbed in a bear hug by officer Ivor? | |
| Did Mr Menezes move towards C12 before he was grabbed in a bear hug by Ivor? | |
| Possible contributory factors | |
| The pressure on police after the suicide attacks in July 2005. | |
| A failure to obtain and provide better photographic images of failed bomber Hussain Osman to surveillance officers. | |
| The general difficulty in providing identification of the man under surveillance in the time available. | |
| The fact that the views of the surveillance officers regarding identification were not accurately communicated to the command team and firearms officers. | |
| A failure by police to ensure that Mr Menezes was stopped before he reached public transport. | |
| The innocent behaviour of Mr Menezes increasing suspicion. | |
| The fact that the position of the cars containing the firearms officers was not accurately known by the command team as firearms teams were approaching Stockwell Tube. | |
| Shortcomings in the communications system between various police teams on the ground. | |
| Failure to conclude at the time that surveillance officers could have been used to carry out the stop on Mr Menezes at Stockwell. | |
NOTE: The officer identified as "Ivor" was a member of a SO12 Special Branch covert surveillance team who had followed Menezes on the bus and attempted to identify him. He has also been designated as "Hotel 3". The officer identified as "C12" or "Charlie 12" was a member of a CO19 firearms unit who first opened fire and killed Menezes.
In November 2009, the Metropolitan Police reached a compensation deal with the family of Jean Charles de Menezes. This marked the end of litigation between the parties. The amount of compensation was not disclosed.
Disputed facts and events
Many of the "disputed" facts in this section were very quickly resolved. Some were later demonstrated as being patently false and errors originating from various "eyewitnesses" and journalists, with the media drawing connections between the incident and similar incidents investigated by the Devlin committeeDevlin Committee
The Devlin Committee was a UK committee based on the Devlin report of 1976, which looked at a number of criminal cases in order to draw conclusions on the method of visual identification of suspects. The committee was established to follow on from the investigations into the wrongful accusation of...
.
Clothing
With regards to his dress on the day of the shooting The ObserverThe Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
reported that he was dressed in "baseball cap, blue fleece and baggy trousers." Mark Whitby, a witness to the shooting, told Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
that he observed Menezes wearing a large winter coat, which "looked out of place". Vivien Figueiredo, a cousin of Menezes, was later told by police that Menezes was wearing a denim jacket on the day of the shooting. Anthony Larkin, another eyewitness, told the BBC that Menezes appeared to be wearing a "bomb belt
Explosive belt
An explosive belt is an improvised explosive device, a belt or a vest packed with explosives and armed with a detonator, worn by suicide bombers...
with wires coming out."
Based on these eyewitness reports, press speculation at the time said that wearing such heavy clothing on a warm day raised suspicions that Menezes was hiding explosives underneath, and was therefore a potential suicide bomber. At the time of the shooting, the temperature in London (at a Heathrow Airport weather station) was about 17 °C (62 °F).
No device resembling a bomb belt was reported as found. Menezes was also not carrying a tool bag, since he had left it with his work colleague the previous evening. According to the report on leaked IPCC documents, Menezes was wearing a pair of jeans and a light denim jacket. This was confirmed by a photo of his body on the floor of the carriage after the shooting.
Police challenge
Police initially stated that they challenged Menezes and ordered him to stop outside Stockwell station. Metropolitan Police CommissionerCommissioner of Police of the Metropolis
The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis is the head of London's Metropolitan Police Service, classing the holder as a chief police officer...
Sir Ian Blair
Ian Blair
Ian Warwick Blair, Baron Blair of Boughton, QPM is a retired British Police officer who held the position of commissioner of police of the metropolis from 2005 to 2008 and was the highest ranking officer within the Metropolitan Police Service.On 2 October 2008 Blair announced that he would...
said in a later press conference that a warning was issued prior to the shooting. Lee Ruston, an eyewitness who was waiting on the platform, said the police did not identify themselves. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
reported "senior police sources" as saying that police policy would not require a warning to be given to a suspected suicide bomber before lethal action was taken.
The leaked IPCC documents indicated that Menezes was seated on the train carriage when the SO19 armed unit arrived. A shout of 'police' may have been made, but the suspect never really had an opportunity to respond before he was shot. The leaked documents indicated that he was restrained by an undercover officer before being shot.
During the 2008 inquest into Menezes' death, passengers who were travelling in the same carriage also contradicted police accounts, saying that they heard no warnings and that Menezes gave no significant reaction to arrival of the policemen. One passenger said that Menezes appeared calm even as a gun was held to his head and was clear that the police officers did not shout any warnings before shooting him.
In its open verdict on 12 December 2008, the jury decided 8 to 2 that no shouted warning had been given.
Ticket barrier
Witnesses stated that up to twenty police officers in plain clothes pursued Menezes into Stockwell station, that he jumped over the ticket barrier, ran down an escalator and tried to jump on to a train. The Menezes' family were briefed by the police that their son did not jump over the ticket barrier and may have used a TravelcardTravelcard
The Travelcard is an inter-modal travel ticket for unlimited use on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway, Tramlink, London Buses and National Rail services in the Greater London area. Travelcards can be purchased for a period of time varying from one day to a year,...
to pass through; this was subsequently confirmed by CCTV recordings shown at the Metropolitan Police trial.
The pathologist's post mortem report, which was written five days after the shooting, recorded that Menezes “vaulted over the ticket barriers” and that he “ran down the stairs of the tube station”. Dr Kenneth Shorrock later told the inquest that he had been given this information by police during a "walk-through" with officers at Stockwell Tube Station but he could not remember who had given him this incorrect information, which had also featured in earliest eye-witness reports.
It had been suggested that the man reported by eyewitnesses as jumping over the barrier may have been one of the police officers in pursuit.
Missing CCTV footage
Initial UK media reports suggested that no CCTV footage was available from the Stockwell station, as recording media had not been replaced after being removed for examination after the previous day's attempted bombings. Other reports stated that faulty cameras on the platform were the reason for the lack of video evidence. An anonymous source confirmed that CCTVClosed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
footage was available for the ticket area, but that there was a problem with the platform coverage. The source suggested that there was no useful CCTV footage from the platform or the train carriage.
Extracts from a later police report stated that examination of the platform cameras had produced no footage. It said: "It has been established that there has been a technical problem with the CCTV equipment on the relevant platform and no footage exists." It also reported there was no footage from CCTV in the carriage where Menezes was shot, saying "Although there was on-board CCTV in the train, due to previous incidents, the hard drive had been removed and not replaced."
The platform CCTV system is maintained by the Tube Lines consortium in charge of maintaining the Northern Line; unofficial sources from inside the company insisted that the cameras were in working order. It was also reported that London Underground sources insisted that at least three of the four cameras trained on the Stockwell Tube platform were in full working order, and rejected suggestions that the cameras had not been fitted with new tapes after police took away footage from the previous day, 21 July, when suspects in the failed bombings caught trains there.
Motivations
Several reasons were initially posited by media sources and family members for why Menezes may have run from police, as indicated by initial reports. A few weeks prior, he had been attacked by a gangGang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
and may have perceived that he was in a similar situation upon seeing plainclothes officers chasing him. Several sources have speculated that irregularities about his immigration status may have given him reason to be wary of the police; evidence that emerged during the course of the criminal trial into the Health and Safety charge showed that Menezes was lawfully in the country on 22 July 2005. This is mentioned in the Stockwell One report, at footnote 4 on page 21. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a work colleague believed that Menezes ran simply because he was late for his job. It was later indicated by the leaked IPCC documents that Menezes may have run across the platform to get a seat on the train, and did not know at the time that he was being watched or pursued.
Gunshots
It was initially stated by police that Menezes was shot five times in the head. Mark Whitby, a passenger on the train Menezes had run on to, said: "one of [the police officers] was carrying a black handgun—it looked like an automatic—He half tripped… they pushed him to the floor, bundled on top of him and unloaded five shots into him." Another passenger, Dan Copeland, said: "an officer jumped on the door to my left and screamed, 'Everybody out!' People just froze in their seats cowering for a few seconds and then leapt up. As I turned out the door on to the platform, I heard four dull bangs." Menezes' cousin Alex Pereira, who lived with him, asserted that Menezes had been shot from behind: "I pushed my way into the morgue. They wouldn't let me see him. His mouth was twisted by the wounds and it looked like he had been shot from the back of the neck." Later reports confirmed that Jean Charles de Menezes was shot a total of eight times: seven times in the head and once in the shoulder.The leaked IPCC documents also indicated that an additional three shots had missed Menezes. One witness claimed that the shots were evenly distributed over a timespan of thirty seconds. This has not been substantiated by other witness reports or the leaked IPCC documents.
Involvement of special forces
Several commentators suggested that special forcesSpecial forces
Special forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...
may have been involved in the shooting. Professor Michael Clarke, Professor of Defence Studies at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, went as far as to say that unless there had been a major change in policy it was likely that it was not the police who had carried out the shooting, but special forces:
- "To have bullets pumped into him like this suggests quite a lot about him and what the authorities, whoever they are, assumed about him. The fact that he was shot in this way strongly suggests that it was someone the authorities knew and suspected he was carrying explosives on him. […] You don't shoot somebody five times if you think you might have made a mistake and may be able to arrest him. […] Even Special BranchSpecial BranchSpecial Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
and SO19 are not trained to do this sort of thing. It's plausible that they were special forces or elements of special forces."
On 4 August 2005, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
reported that the newly created Special Reconnaissance Regiment
Special Reconnaissance Regiment
The Special Reconnaissance Regiment or SRR is a Special Forces regiment of the British Armed Forces. It was established on 6 April 2005 and is part of the United Kingdom Special Forces under command Director Special Forces, alongside the Special Air Service , Special Boat Service and the Special...
(SRR), a special forces unit specialising in covert surveillance, were involved in the operation that led to the shooting. The anonymous Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
sources who provided the story stressed that the SRR were involved only in intelligence-gathering, and that Menezes was shot by armed police not by members of the SRR or other soldiers. Defence sources would not comment on speculation that SRR soldiers were among the plainclothes officers who followed Menezes on to the No. 2 bus. On 21 August, the Sunday Herald
Sunday Herald
The Sunday Herald is a Scottish Sunday newspaper launched on 7 February 1999. The ABC audited circulation in April 2011 showed sales of 31,123.From the start it has combined a centre-left stance with support for Scottish devolution...
reported that SRR men are believed to have been in the tube train when the shooting occurred.
Stockwell One states, of the SO12 surveillance teams: (p. 28)
'During July 2005 each surveillance team had a member of the military attached to them. Those soldiers were unarmed.'
In the transcript of the 2008 inquest, some of the soldiers' testimonies are recorded, including that of 'Hotel 11' and that of 'Frank'.
False rape allegations
In February 2006, a woman claimed to police that a man who resembled Menezes had attacked her in a hotel room on New Year's Eve 2002 in west London. Scotland YardScotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
spent several weeks investigating the claim.
After the claim was made public in March 2006, the Menezes family denied the allegation and claimed that the Metropolitan Police were trying to smear
Smear campaign
A smear campaign, smear tactic or simply smear is a metaphor for activity that can harm an individual or group's reputation by conflation with a stigmatized group...
Menezes.
Although the family initially denied the request, a blood sample was eventually taken with their permission from Menezes' autopsy. On 25 April 2006 Scotland Yard announced that forensic tests on the sample had cleared Menezes.
Legal settlement
The four-year battle for justice by the family of Jean Charles de Menezes ended when they reached a legal settlement with Scotland Yard. The Metropolitan police agreed to pay compensation to the family, and in return the relatives of Menezes agreed to end their legal action. The sum of money involved in the settlement is believed to be just over £100,000; in addition the family's substantial legal costs were paid. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner said "a further unreserved apology to the family for the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes and to reiterate that he was a totally innocent victim and in no way to blame for his untimely death."Some have reacted critically to the level of compensation paid by the Metropolitan Police; one commentator, comparing the level or payout to awards at stake in Employment Tribunal
Employment tribunal
Employment Tribunals are tribunal non-departmental public bodies in England and Wales and Scotland which have statutory jurisdiction to hear many kinds of disputes between employers and employees. The most common disputes are concerned with unfair dismissal, redundancy payments and employment...
s, speculated that "Perhaps [de Menezes'] life was worth less because he was poor."
Similar incidents
Comparisons have been made between the death of Menezes and other innocent or unarmed people shot by British police officers in disputed circumstances, including Stephen WaldorfStephen Waldorf
Stephen Waldorf was a 26-year-old film editor who was shot and severely injured by Metropolitan Police officers in London, England on 14 January 1983, when he was mis-identified as an escaped prisoner, David Martin.-Background:...
, James Ashley
James Ashley
James Ashley was a 39-year-old man who was shot dead by armed police while unarmed and naked, during a raid on his flat in St Leonards, East Sussex, United Kingdom, on 15 January 1998. Ashley and several of the apartment's other residents were suspected of involvement in large-scale drug deals...
, Harry Stanley
Harry Stanley
Harry Stanley was a painter and decorator who was fatally shot by police in controversial circumstances.-Background:...
, and the 2 June 2006 Forest Gate raid
2 June 2006 Forest Gate raid
The 2 June 2006 Forest Gate raid saw the arrest of two men at their east London homes in Forest Gate by police acting on what they described as "specific intelligence" that they might be terrorists in possession of a chemical bomb. One of the men was shot during the raid. No explosive devices were...
.
Media
The shooting was the subject of an hour long "factual drama" titled Stockwell, first broadcast on the UK terrestrial channel ITV1ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
on 21 January 2009 at 9 pm.
During The Wall Live tour 2011, Roger Waters
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
of Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
added an acoustic coda to "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" with new lyrics in honour of Menezes.
A film about Menezes' life, titled Jean Charles
Jean Charles (film)
Jean Charles is a 2009 British-Brazilian film depicting the life of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian immigrant shot dead by the Metropolitan Police at Stockwell tube station in London on July 22, 2005.-Cast:* Selton Mello as Jean Charles...
, was filmed in 2008. Selton Mello
Selton Mello
Selton Figueiredo Melo is a Brazilian actor. He works on TV, movies and theater. He also produces and directs movies and videoclips...
portrays Menezes and Vanessa Giácomo
Vanessa Giácomo
Vanessa Giácomo is a Brazilian film and television actress. She won the Most Promising Actress award at the 2005 Prêmio Contigo, Brazil, for Cabocla , and was nominated for the Best Actress award at the 2006 Prêmio Contigo de Cinema for Canta Maria .Giácomo made her television debut in Cabocla...
portrays his cousin. The movie debuted on 26 June 2009, in Brazil.
The documentary play 'Stockwell' opened in July 2009 at the Landor Theatre, in Clapham in London. This play featured actors reading scripts edited by playwright Kieron Barry
Kieron Barry
-Work:Barry's plays include Stockwell: The Inquest into the Death of Jean Charles de Menezes about the 2005 shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, which ran at London's Tricycle Theatre in 2009.-Published works:*Numbers*Embassyland...
from transcripts of the inquest.
This Much is True written by Paul Unwin
Paul Unwin (film director)
Paul Unwin is a film, theatre, TV writer / director.As a theatre director his work includes The Man Who Had All the Luck by Arthur Miller at the Bristol Old Vic and the Young Vic, The Misanthrope at the Bristol Old Vic and the Royal National Theatre, Hamlet, Othello, In Times Like These by Jeremy...
(co-creator of the BBC television show Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
) and Sarah Beck, is a documentary stage play following the journeys of those caught in the wake of the shooting, weaving together testimony from Jean’s family, Justice4Jean campaigners, senior police officers and lawyers. The production debuted at Theatre 503
Theatre 503
Theatre503 is located at 503 Battersea Park Road in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth, above the Latchmere pub. It is a performing arts venue which specialises in new work.-History:...
in Battersea from 27 October-21 November 2009
A critical account of the shooting was written and recorded as a song "Hollow Point" by Chris Wood
Chris Wood (folk musician)
Chris Wood is an English folk musician and composer who plays fiddle, viola and guitar, and sings. He is an ardent enthusiast for traditional English dance music , including Morris and other rituals and ceremonies, but his repertoire also includes much French folk music and traditional Québécois...
on the album Handmade Life. The song won Song Of The Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British radio station BBC Radio 2....
in 2011.
Further reading
- Armed police shoot man dead on London Underground
- Man shot on London Underground unconnected to bombing, says Scotland Yard
- Leaked documents reveal killed Brazilian was not acting suspiciously
- Daily Mail: Scotland Yard offered Menezes family US$1m
- Stone-Lee, Ollie (22 July 2005). Stockwell left in shock by shooting. BBC News.
- Silverman, Jon (23 July 2005). Shooting watershed for UK security. BBC News.
- Q&A: Stockwell shooting (23 July 2005). BBC News.
- Call for review of police policy (23 July 2005). BBC News.
- Majendie, Paul (24 July 2005). Police kill Brazilian in bomb probe blunder. Reuters.
- Family condemns police shooting (24 July 2005). BBC News.
- Thompson, Tony; Hinsliff, Gaby; Xavier, Alexandre (24 July 2005). Man shot in terror hunt was innocent young Brazilian (24 July 2005). The Observer.
- Summers, Chris (24 July 2005). The police marksman's dilemma. BBC News.
- Call for reassurance in Stockwell (24 July 2005). BBC News.
- Ex-police chief backs guns policy (24 July 2005). BBC News.
- Family mourn for Brazilian victim (24 July 2005). BBC News. (14 August 2005). The Observer
- New claims emerge over Menezes death (17 August 2005). Guardian Unlimited
- Leak disputes Menezes death story (17 August 2005). BBC News
- Timeline: the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes (17 August 2005). The Times
- Panorama: Stockwell: Countdown to killing (8 March 2006). BBC Panorama. A 59 minute-long programme investigating the controversial "shoot-to-kill" policy.
- Stockwell One report – copy hosted on the BBC website.
- Jean Charles de Menezes shooting: Metropolitan police found guilty of endangering the public (3 November 2007) World Socialist Web Site A group of local filmmakers from the South London Documentary Unit retraced the last journey de Menezes in the actual locations and at the same time of year where the events occurred. Filmed and released in July 2008 to coincide with the third anniversary of the shooting.