De Menezes tube shooting 'a mix up'

Scotsman
Jan. 15, 2006

An investigation into the fatal shooting of a Brazilian mistaken by London police for a suicide bomber will conclude that a communications mix up was partly to blame for his death, according to reports last night.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission inquiry into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes focused much of its criticism on undercover officers who kept him under surveillance last July 22.

Undercover officers shot the Brazilian electrician dead on an Underground train a day after four men attempted to bomb London's transport system and two weeks after a suicide attack on the system killed 52 commuters and four bombers.

De Menezes, 27, was shot eight times - seven times in the head - after police followed him from an apartment that had been under surveillance.

A Sunday newspaper, citing unidentified sources, said surveillance officers following de Menezes sent a message to armed colleagues at the subway station that "this is the man". They meant he was the man they were following, but firearms officers understood it to mean he was a suicide bomber, the paper said.

The report is also understood to criticise surveillance officers for not realising that de Menezes, who wore a denim jacket when he was killed, was not dressed like a suicide bomber.

The commission is due to hand its report over to the Crown Prosecution Service in the next few weeks. Prosecutors will then decide whether anyone should be charged.

Police have called the shooting a tragedy and apologised, but de Menezes' family and supporters have called for charges to be filed.