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[F]rom the moment de Menezes entered the station, his fate was sealed.

Another witness, Mark Whitby, told of hearing people shouting, 'Get down, get own,' and then seeing de Menezes run onto the train 'looking like a cornered fox'. Three plainclothes police followed, one holding a black automatic pistol. De Menezes was tripped, pushed to the floor of the carriage and shot in the head seven times.

No one knows what went through the young man's mind in the last moments of his life. Having been attacked just weeks earlier, he may have believed the casually dressed white men chasing him were part of the same gang. He may have been thinking of the experience of his cousin who was caught by immigration officers in America and deported before he had the chance to finish saving for his dream home. Now de Menenzes is dead and no one will ever know.

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Originally posted by Mr. Magoo:
I could see destroying any video evidence as part of the coverup.

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If I must spell it out, that's what I was getting at.

ETA: The Met has lied about this incident before. They lied about the jacket and the entry into the station. Why is it unreasonable to speculate they may be lying about the CCTV as well?

[ 16 August 2005: Message edited by: kurichina ]

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One surveillance officer admitted he could not identify Mr de Menezes because he was relieving himself as the Brazilian left his home - a block of flats in Tulse Hill where it was thought one of the bombers, Hussain Osman, lived.

"As he walked out of my line of vision I checked the photographs and transmitted that it would be worth someone else having a look. I should point out that, as I observed this male exiting the block, I was in the process of relieving myself.

"At this time I was not able to transmit my observations and switch on the video camera at the same time. There is therefore no video footage of this male."

A second officer also failed to give a positive identification but claimed the suspect had "distinctive Mongolian eyes".

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So you have one guy who can't identify the person because he's taking a piss, and a second who also can't, but you know, who cares because he has "Mongolian eyes" so surely it was prudent to follow him to the station and kill him, right? After all, it's so hard to tell the difference between all those people with distinctive Mongolian eyes.

It doesn't sound as though de Menezes was ever running away at all -- at least two witnesses have him sitting down in the carriage when he was grabbed.

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By studying footage of attacks and even interviewing failed bombers, senior Met officers drew up a list of 'precursor signals' that generally occur shortly before detonation of a device. Most have not been made public but include the potential bomber looking 'detached' from his or her surroundings and becoming introspective.

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I'm in trouble! I usually look "detached" from my surroundings and/or introspective, especially when I'm on transit (if I'm not reading). And I carry a big pack. Remind me to stay off the tube if I visit London.

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In what are described as leaked documents it appears he was already being followed, falsely identified as a suspect bomber, and that at the time he was shot his behaviour and dress were very different to the police's original claims.

First, he did not wear a coat that could have hidden a bomb, and did not enter the underground station running, or jump the barrier. Inside, he picked up a free paper, and only ran when he saw his train. Then he was wrestled to the ground by a security officer, and shot eight times by the police tailing him.

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So a new version of the facts is emerging, and it seems Sir Ian Blair was lying to us (surprise!).

Menezes did not try to run away from the police who were following him. He did not try to vault over the turnstiles. He stopped in the station to pick up a free newspaper, walked casually onto a train, and sat down. He was not wearing a bulky jacket, but a light denim one. He was not carrying a bag or a rucksack.

The lawyer for the Menezes family is calling for Ian Blair's resignation.

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If the police were going to pretend they hadn't shot an innocent man I could see destroying any video evidence as part of the coverup. But this is like wiping the place clean of your fingerprints, then marching down to the Police station and turning yourself in.

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SIR Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, tried to delay an independent investigation into the fatal shooting of an innocent man mistaken for a suicide bomber as he felt the force's main terror inquiry would be compromised, police have admitted.

...

An IPCC spokesman said the inquiry may be widened to look at whether the police deliberately misled the public.

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Sir Ian, you must go now

[ 22 August 2005: Message edited by: leftcoastguy ]

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Army and police war of words on last moments underground
By Daniel McGrory, Michael Evans and Stewart Tendler
POLICE marksmen and army surveillance teams following Jean Charles de Menezes onto a Tube train could not receive orders in the vital moments before he was shot dead because their radios did not work underground.

This communication failure has emerged as the likely reason why Scotland Yard commanders were not told that the 27-year-old Brazilian was not the suicide bomber that they were hunting.

The undercover officers sitting alongside Mr de Menezes are understood to have decided he was not a threat, but they could not get this message back to Gold Command at the Yard nor relay it to the marksmen.

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August 3, 2007 - The Mirror

Rumours swept through Scotland Yard within hours of innocent Jean Charles de Menezes being shot dead by anti-terror police.

But no one bothered to tell their boss Sir Ian Blair, it was revealed yesterday.

Detectives not connected to the case heard of a "massive cock-up" and that a "Brazilian tourist" had been shot.

Even off-duty officers watching cricket at Lord's heard of a "terrible mistake", said the Independent Police Complaints Commission in Stockwell 2, the second part of their inquiry into the killing.

It said Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman misled senior officers - including Sir Ian - when he said it was not known if Mr de Menezes was one of the failed July 21 suicide bombers.

But he had already told journalists the 27-year-old, shot eight times at Stockwell Tube station in South London, was definitely not a bomber.

The IPCC report said: "Mr Hayman chose to mislead the public by his actions.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian left work "almost totally uninformed" and was not told the truth until next day, said the report. It branded Mr Hayman's behaviour tantamount to misconduct.

He faces disciplinary action by the Metropolitan Police Authority this year.

Last night, Mr de Menezes's family said they believed Mr Hayman - the country's top anti-terror policeman - had lied and should lose his job.

They branded the Yard "not fit for purpose".

Cousin Alessandro Pereira said: "The police were a shambolic mess and senior officers should be held to account."

Another cousin, Patricia Armani da Silva, said police had been allowed to "get away with murder. It is a huge injustice and very shameful. They are treating the life that was taken away by their hands as if it was an animal's."

The family believe there are grounds for charges of manslaughter through gross negligence against four senior officers.

Mr de Menezes was killed at 10am on July 22 2005 by officers who mistook him for a terrorist - 24 hours after the failed attacks in London. The IPCC said his real identity was suspected by 3pm. By 4.30pm, Mr Hayman had told journalists he was not one of the bombers. But he failed to relay any of those concerns to a meeting of senior officers, including Sir Ian, at 5pm.

That led to "inaccurate or misleading information" being circulated by the Yard. The rumours even appear to have been discussed within feet of Sir Ian. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick told the IPCC he heard the "tourist" story from Sir Ian's own staff at about 3:30 pm.

Sir Ian walked past but nothing was said - and minutes later he told the media the shooting was "directly" linked to anti-terror operations. The report cleared him of misleading the public but upheld a complaint against Mr Hayman.

Sir Ian said later he was sorry for the failings but added: "I did not lie." He denied he had been let down and said officers were under extreme pressure because of the terror threat.

But colleagues privately claimed he was "left out of the loop" because some senior officers lost confidence in him. One added: "It is almost beyond belief that ... he says he didn't know there was anything wrong. The whole Yard was buzzing with rumours."

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she had "full confidence" in Sir Ian and the Metropolitan Police.

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[ 03 August 2007: Message edited by: M. Spector ]

We didn't need to wait for today's guilty verdict in the case against the Met to know that Blair and his cops were guilty of "catastrophic failings" in the matter.

From The Guardian:

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Sir Ian Blair vowed yesterday [Thursday] to stay on as Britain's top police officer, despite sustained calls for his resignation, after his force was found guilty of "catastrophic" failings that led to the shooting dead of Jean Charles de Menezes.

An Old Bailey jury found the Metropolitan police guilty of breaking health and safety law in July 2005 when De Menezes was killed after being mistaken for a suicide bomber. Fining the force £175,000 and ordering it to pay £385,000 in costs, judge Mr Justice Henriques called on the force to learn lessons.

He said: "Every single failure here has been disputed. Some of these failings have been simply beyond explanation. There has been no single admission to any one of the alleged 19 failings."
....

Within the police service, the Guardian has learned that senior figures argued the force should plead guilty, but Sir Ian decided to fight the case. The unprecedented trial came after prosecutors said no individual officer could be held responsible for the electrician's death, but that the force should be tried for failing to protect the public from risk.
....

The furore over the shooting will continue. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is considering the release of a report into the failings within days. A full inquest into the killing will take place next year, and the De Menezes family will also issue civil proceedings.

Later this month Sir Ian will face a meeting of his police authority where he will be questioned about the guilty verdict.

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He said: "Every single failure here has been disputed. Some of these failings have been simply beyond explanation. There has been no single admission to any one of the alleged 19 failings."
....

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Does this mean that people in Britain don't need to go to jail if they refuse to admit their own guilt, even after a judge/jury finds them guilty? That's quite a logical precedent Mr. Blair is invoking.

BTW, thanks for bumping this, MSpector. It's largely fallen off the radar in the Canadian News. I suspect these two-year commissions are designed exactly for that purpose (to allow the public to forget such oversteps by authorities). Kudos to the British press for actually reporting on the commission results.

[ 02 November 2007: Message edited by: Briguy ]