Jean Charles De Menezes

This article is part of the Counter-Terrorism Portal project of Spinwatch.

Jean Charles De Menezes

Jean Charles De Menezes dead body lies on the train at Stockwell tube station

Jean Charles De Menezes (born 1978) was a Brazilian migrant electrician who was shot and killed by armed officers at Stockwell Tube station on 22 July 2005 after being mistaken as one of the four 21/7 suicide bombers.

He was shot 7 times in the head and once in the shoulder at point-blank range. Nobody has ever been held responsible for his death.

His death was the first under the 2001 Operation Kratos strategy.

The death and reporting of the tragedy of Menezes' shooting, argued his lawyers, was wrapped in a shroud of misinformation.

Defence of Shooting

Sir Ian Blair, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, defended the shooting of Menezes by stating that if the police did not shoot him, they would have faced the risk of “certain death.”

Ian Blair wrote to the Home Office permanent Secretary Sir John Gieve one day after Menezes was killed and stated that he sought to “maximise the legal protection for officers” who were exercising shoot-to-kill powers. He stated that the environment that faced officers meant that they could not “risk the kind of containment and negotiation tactics” that would be normally expected of them. The only choice an officer may have may be to shoot-to-kill in order to prevent the detonation of a device.” He also stated that while officers had protection under Section 3 of the Criminal Law Act (reasonable use of force in the specific circumstance) he did “not seek" to "exempt" them from the investigation or prosecution if evidence against them existed. Nevertheless, he stated that he was “confident” that the prosecuting authorities would understand “the pressures under which the (CO19 Unit) operates in terrorist scenarios”.

In response to the letter, Giovani da Silva - a lawyer acting for the De Menezes family stated that "these letters have shown Ian Blair has lied once again, not only to the family but to the public. Ian Blair has jumped the barrier of the law".<ref>Rosa Prince, ‘Cover up? Letter reveals Met chief’s bid to block probe into tube shooting’, The Daily Mirror, 1 October 2005, accessed via LexisNexis on 06.09.10

Attempts to Prevent IPCC Inquiry

Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service refused to reveal the tactics that were employed in the shooting of Menezes to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and tried to block an independent investigation being launched by the IPCC. He stated that even though:

"... there is much concern about revealing … the tactics [of the police] and [the information they are operating upon], I believe that, in a fast-moving, multi-site terrorist situation, in which suicide bombers are clearly a very strong possibility, a chief officer of police should be able to suspend S.17 of the Police Reform Act 2002, which requires us to supply all information that the Independent Police Complaints Commission may require … I have therefore given instructions that the shooting … is not to be referred to the IPCC and that they will be given no access to the scene at the present time. The investigation will be carried out by the Met's own Directorate of Professional Standards. This investigation will be rigorous but subordinate to the needs of the counter-terrorism operation."

Menezes Restrained When Shot

According to secret documents that were leaked, when Menezes was shot he had already been overpowered by a surveillance officer that had been following him from his flat in Brixton.<ref name="Guardian 1"> Rosie Cowan, Duncan Campbell & Vikram Dodd, ‘New claims emerge over Menezes death’, The Guardian, 17 August 2005, accessed 06.09.10</ref/ In other words, Menezes was shot 8 times even though he had been restrained by a police officer.

According to the surveillance officers account that restrained him:

"I heard shouting which included the word 'police' and turned to face the [Menezes] in the denim jacket … [Menezes] immediately stood up and advanced towards me and the [armed officers] ... I grabbed [Menezes] in the denim jacket by wrapping both my arms around his torso, pinning his arms to his side. I then pushed him back on to the seat where he had been previously sitting ... I then heard a gunshot very close to my left ear and was dragged away on to the floor of the carriage."

Resources

• Justice for Jean campaign website
• Letter from Sir Ian Blair to Home Office Permanent Secretary Sir John Gieve relating to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes