BBC accused of covering up De Menezes shooting

Life Style Extra
Jan. 16, 2007

The BBC has been accused of covering up the truth after it dropped plans to film a politically sensitive drama about Jean Charles de Menezes who was gunned down by police marksmen at Stockwell Tube station.

The cousin of the 27-year-old Brazilian electrician said the broadcaster wanted people to "forget" the killing.

Jean Charles de Menezes was shot more multiple times on a Victoria Line tube in the wake of the July London bombings two years ago after police mistook him for a terror suspect.

The BBC shelved the project after it was reported that the organisation had reported the shooting extensively on its news channels and had been tackled by its current affairs programme Panorama.

But de Menezes cousin Alex Pereira said: "They are trying to make people forget what happened.

"It is all political. If the BBC just wanted to do the right thing, they would show the programme. To show the truth is not illegal, to show how the police treated me is not a crime.

"But they won't because they want to protect the criminals, the police. All reports say they are innocent in everything they have done. We can't prove there is a cover up but we think it is a cover up.

"Because it will look bad for the police, they won't do that because the BBC is part of the government."

Award-winning producer Katy Jones told the Observer: "I am extraordinarily disappointed, more than anything for the family.

"It was devastating for them. We had been told by the BBC it was the most important television commission of the year."

A BBC spokeswoman said: "We are not shying away from the subject and covered it extensively in current affairs and documentaries, for example Panorama examined the Stockwell shooting as well as news coverage.

"Drama of course is a different process."