BBC: Menezes report handed in to CPS
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Menezes report handed in to CPS
A report into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, shot by police who mistook him for a suicide bomber, has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. The CPS will decide whether any police officers should face charges, after studying the report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Brazilian Mr Menezes, 27, was killed at Stockwell Tube station, London, the day after the failed 21 July bombings. Ministers will receive the report, but it will not yet be made public.
A copy will also be sent to Scotland Yard, the Metropolitan Police Authority and Inner South London coroner John Sampson. Police and soldiers were watching the block of flats where Mr Menezes lived, believing a man suspected of the attempted attacks lived there.
A soldier saw the electrician leave his flat and thought he resembled the suspect. He suggested it was "worth somebody else having a look".
The IPCC, which hand delivered its report in two boxes to the CPS offices in central London on Thursday morning, has focused on how this vague identification led to Mr Menezes being shot dead on the Tube. "The Crown Prosecution Service have today received the IPCC report and a full file of evidence into the shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes," the CPS said in a statement.
"The file will now be reviewed by a senior lawyer from our Special Crime Division and a decision will be notified to the IPCC in due course."
Evenly-spaced shots
The IPCC's director of legal services John Tate said last month that if the report was sent to the CPS, it would include a list of criminal offences that may have been committed. CPS lawyers will study the report and all the evidence to decide if criminal charges should be brought, and also whether a prosecution would be in the public interest. The report will not be published until after any trial or inquest arising from the case, but small amounts of information from the probe have come out. The BBC has obtained an eyewitness statement, given to the IPCC, that described how anti-terror officers shot at Mr Menezes 11 times.
The statement read: "The shots were evenly spaced, with about three seconds between the shots for the first few shots. "Then a gap of a little longer. Then the shots were evenly spaced again." Mr Menezes, from Gonzaga in south-eastern Brazil, was hit seven times in the head.
Communication problems
It is known the IPCC has identified "serious communication problems" on the day of the shooting, said BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford. "It has also emerged that Commander Cressida Dick, the officer in charge that day, had barely slept because of a shortage at Scotland Yard of senior officers trained to handle suicide bomb situations," he said. Commander Dick was in charge of armed officers, and her colleague Commander John McDowell in charge of surveillance officers on the day of the shooting. It was not clear who would bear the brunt of any IPCC criticisms, our correspondent said.
Documents related to the IPCC probe, leaked last August, seemed to contradict eyewitness reports and initial police quotes that Mr Menezes' "clothing and demeanour" added to suspicions he was a suicide bomber.
Mr Menezes' family want charges brought against senior officers and those who pulled the trigger. Alex Pereira, a cousin of Mr Menezes, said: "Those who came with guns all had an intention to kill. There's no way to forgive them." But former firearms officers have warned charges could lead to protests, with armed officers refusing to carry guns. Roger Gray, a former firearms officer, warned of a potential "crisis".
"If they start to, as they say, hand in their ticket, because they are all volunteers, and it goes beyond a certain number, then the ripple effect will go right through London and I think it will probably go through the country," he said.
IPCC chairman Nick Hardwick said last month the commission was confident it knew what happened at Stockwell Tube station and why.
The inquiry has interviewed a number of Metropolitan police officers of all ranks over Mr Menezes' death, but the head of the force, commissioner Sir Ian Blair, was not among them.
A separate IPCC investigation is being held into Sir Ian's handling of the affair.
All 30 passengers in the train carriage at the time of the shooting have been interviewed, and the probe took a total of 600 written statements.
A report into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, shot by police who mistook him for a suicide bomber, has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. The CPS will decide whether any police officers should face charges, after studying the report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Brazilian Mr Menezes, 27, was killed at Stockwell Tube station, London, the day after the failed 21 July bombings. Ministers will receive the report, but it will not yet be made public.
A copy will also be sent to Scotland Yard, the Metropolitan Police Authority and Inner South London coroner John Sampson. Police and soldiers were watching the block of flats where Mr Menezes lived, believing a man suspected of the attempted attacks lived there.
A soldier saw the electrician leave his flat and thought he resembled the suspect. He suggested it was "worth somebody else having a look".
The IPCC, which hand delivered its report in two boxes to the CPS offices in central London on Thursday morning, has focused on how this vague identification led to Mr Menezes being shot dead on the Tube. "The Crown Prosecution Service have today received the IPCC report and a full file of evidence into the shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes," the CPS said in a statement.
"The file will now be reviewed by a senior lawyer from our Special Crime Division and a decision will be notified to the IPCC in due course."
Evenly-spaced shots
The IPCC's director of legal services John Tate said last month that if the report was sent to the CPS, it would include a list of criminal offences that may have been committed. CPS lawyers will study the report and all the evidence to decide if criminal charges should be brought, and also whether a prosecution would be in the public interest. The report will not be published until after any trial or inquest arising from the case, but small amounts of information from the probe have come out. The BBC has obtained an eyewitness statement, given to the IPCC, that described how anti-terror officers shot at Mr Menezes 11 times.
The statement read: "The shots were evenly spaced, with about three seconds between the shots for the first few shots. "Then a gap of a little longer. Then the shots were evenly spaced again." Mr Menezes, from Gonzaga in south-eastern Brazil, was hit seven times in the head.
Communication problems
It is known the IPCC has identified "serious communication problems" on the day of the shooting, said BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford. "It has also emerged that Commander Cressida Dick, the officer in charge that day, had barely slept because of a shortage at Scotland Yard of senior officers trained to handle suicide bomb situations," he said. Commander Dick was in charge of armed officers, and her colleague Commander John McDowell in charge of surveillance officers on the day of the shooting. It was not clear who would bear the brunt of any IPCC criticisms, our correspondent said.
Documents related to the IPCC probe, leaked last August, seemed to contradict eyewitness reports and initial police quotes that Mr Menezes' "clothing and demeanour" added to suspicions he was a suicide bomber.
Mr Menezes' family want charges brought against senior officers and those who pulled the trigger. Alex Pereira, a cousin of Mr Menezes, said: "Those who came with guns all had an intention to kill. There's no way to forgive them." But former firearms officers have warned charges could lead to protests, with armed officers refusing to carry guns. Roger Gray, a former firearms officer, warned of a potential "crisis".
"If they start to, as they say, hand in their ticket, because they are all volunteers, and it goes beyond a certain number, then the ripple effect will go right through London and I think it will probably go through the country," he said.
IPCC chairman Nick Hardwick said last month the commission was confident it knew what happened at Stockwell Tube station and why.
The inquiry has interviewed a number of Metropolitan police officers of all ranks over Mr Menezes' death, but the head of the force, commissioner Sir Ian Blair, was not among them.
A separate IPCC investigation is being held into Sir Ian's handling of the affair.
All 30 passengers in the train carriage at the time of the shooting have been interviewed, and the probe took a total of 600 written statements.
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