Damning testimony for police at de Menezes inquiry

The inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station on 22 July 2005 heard this week that the Brazilian could have been stopped safely before he was killed by anti-terrorist officers from the Metropolitan Police.

A senior police officer, code named James, told lawyers representing the de Menezes’s family that there were "obvious failings" in the police's handling of the incident, which occurred two weeks after the 7/7 bombings on London's transport system.

James added that he felt officers had the resources to stop de Menezes safely but those in the control room took “too long” in passing on orders to officers trailing the Brazilian, who was working as an electrician in the Tulse Hill area of south London.

Another officer, who was on the ground at the time of the shooting, told lawyers he had been unable to film de Menezes as he was walking past him because he was on a toilet break at the time. Special firearms officers had pursued him from his home believing him to be Hussain Osman who, the day before, had tried to bomb an underground train.

Continuing, the officer said that he had been able to see de Menezes as he left his flat and that, although he initially gave a negative ID, he told surveillance officers in the control room that he was "worth another look."

This news comes in the wake of last week's revelation that a senior police surveillance officer had deleted a line from his notes on the incident  two weeks after the inquest began.

The officer, known as Owen, told the inquest: “I have removed a line I believed was wrong and gave a totally false impression.”

The line detailed Cressida Dick, the commanding officer in charge of the operation on the day, as saying that de Menezes could “run onto Tube as not carrying anything.”

Owen told the inquest that he felt it was misleading because he could not be sure whether it was a direct order: “I believe it was the commander but when I reflected I couldn’t be sure of whether she was saying this is what we are going to do or this was one of the options.”

He said that moments later, Ms Dick gave the order to conduct a "hard stop." He said: "A hard-stop is an aggressive stop. It’s not an official term but it is an aggressive stop."

A spokesman for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) confirmed there would be an inquiry into Owen's admission: “This matter will be subject to an independent investigation and we are not in a position to comment further at this stage."