Blair's 'regrets' over Stockwell shooting

London Telegraph
Mar. 11, 2006

Tony Blair yesterday offered his "deepest regrets" to the family of Jean Charles de Menezes after discussing his fatal shooting by British police with the president of Brazil.

Mr Blair said he had assured President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that "proper investigations and procedures" would continue through to their conclusion.

Relatives of the Brazilian electrician - killed last July after being mistaken for a suicide bomber on the London Underground - also met the president before he ended his state visit yesterday.

A reconstruction of the shooting, broadcast on BBC1's Panorama programme on Wednesday, showed the final moments of the 27-year-old Brazilian's life.

Mr de Menezes's 33-minute journey on foot and by bus from his flat in Tulse Hill to Stockwell Tube station on July 22 last year was dramatised in detail.

Police surveillance teams were shown monitoring their "suspect" - although at one crucial moment, an undercover soldier, whose radio call sign was Tango 10, was answering a call of nature rather than manning a video camera.

After leaving the bus, the innocent Brazilian, dressed in a denim jacket, dark T-shirt and jeans, was shown picking up a free newspaper at the station's entrance and jogging to catch his train.

Moments later undercover police marksmen were shown in pursuit - leaping over the ticket barriers, sprinting down the escalators and accosting Mr de Menezes on the train after he had been identified by a surveillance officer already on the carriage.

To a soundtrack of chaotic shouts and screams, handguns were shown in blurred close-up firing the fatal bullets.

Mr de Menezes died after seven shots were fired into his head by two undercover officers from Scotland Yard's elite firearms unit known as CO19.

The Crown Prosecution Service is to decide whether any police officers involved should face charges, after studying the Independent Police Complaints Commission's report.

Mr Blair told a Downing Street press conference: "Once again let me say that we offer our deepest regrets to the family for this very tragic event and I, of course, assured the President that the proper investigations and procedures would continue through to their conclusion."

Asked if he retained confidence in Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair, he replied: "Yes, of course".

The Brazilian president, who is universally known as Lula, said he was working on the basis of "trusting that the Government and the courts in the United Kingdom will investigate what needs to be investigated".

Speaking after the meeting, three of Mr de Menezes cousins and a family friend said they hoped the Brazilian government's involvement would help break down barriers in their search for justice.

However, Alex Pereira said: "I won't accept Blair's apology because he's killing people - he apologised but at the same time they will still carry on with their shoot-to-kill policy."

The Panorama programme concluded that the death of Mr de Menezes was a disastrous case of mistaken identity.

The police were under intense pressure after the July 7 attacks left 52 dead and more than 700 injured. Two weeks later there were four more apparent suicide bomb attacks which failed, and on the morning of July 22, four suspects were still at large.

Mr de Menezes was not carrying a bag and was wearing only a denim jacket that was unlikely to conceal explosives. It later emerged that the officers' radios did not work underground.

Earlier this week a review of the killing by the Association of Chief Police Officers' found there was no need to change the strategy police use to deal with suicide bombers.