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UK: Leak Disputes Shoot-To-Kill Story

This image broadcast by Britain's Independent Television News 16 August 2005, allegedly shows the body of Brazilian John Charles de Menezes lying dead in an underground train carriage in London on July 22, 2005. British police faced acute embarrassment 17 August 2005 after leaked documents showed that the Brazilian killed on suspicion of being a suicide bomber was not trying to flee and was being overpowered when he was shot in the head at point-blank range. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which is investigating the police killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, refused to confirm or deny the report broadcast late 16 August. AFP photo / ITV News UK.

London (UPI) Aug 18, 2005
Leaked documents from the inquiry into the police killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, mistaken for a suicide bomber in the aftermath of the July 21 bomb attempts in London, apparently contradict the official police version of events leading up to the shooting.

The revelations have led to calls for a public inquiry, and raised further questions over the police use of the shoot-to-kill policy against suspected suicide bombers.

The papers, leaked to ITV, suggest de Menezes was restrained by an officer before being shot eight times - once in the shoulder and seven times in the head - in front of passengers on a London underground train.

De Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician from Brazil, was killed on July 22 during a massive police hunt following the failed attacks in the British capital the previous day.

He had been followed by surveillance officers after emerging from an apartment block in Tulse Hill, south London, the address of which had been found in one of the rucksacks used by the July 21 bombers. After a short bus ride, he entered Stockwell underground station, where, fearful of a suicide bomb attempt, police decided to act.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, when it became apparent de Menezes had no connection to terrorism, police suggested the young Brazilian had been acting suspiciously and had failed to stop when challenged. Wearing a large winter-style jacket that could have concealed a bomb, de Menezes had jumped the ticket barriers and ran on to a waiting train, where he was gunned down, they reported.

However the leaked documents, apparently containing statements from officers involved, suggest de Menezes had in fact walked into the underground station, picked up a free newspaper and used his ticket to pass through the barrier. He had not been challenged by police and ran only when he saw the train waiting at the platform, they indicate.

He had been sitting down on the train when he was restrained by a community officer and shot by plain-clothes armed police, with little or no warning.

Neither had he been wearing a thick padded overcoat but simply a light denim jacket, the leaked version suggests.

They also indicate the intelligence operation leading to the victim being identified as a suspect might have been compromised, as de Menezes had not been captured on video leaving his apartment block because the officer responsible for doing so had gone to the toilet.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, conducting the inquiry into de Menezes death, would not comment on the details of the leak.

In a statement, the commission said the victim's family "will clearly be distressed that they have received information on television concerning his death."

It added: "The IPCC made it clear that we would not speculate or release partial information about the investigation, and that others should not do so. That remains the case."

The commission said it operated a "very high degree of security" on all of its investigations. Its highest priority was to keep the family informed, and it did not know where the documents came from, it said.

Scotland Yard said it would be inappropriate to comment as the IPCC's investigation was still ongoing.

Harriet Wistrich, solicitor for the family of de Menezes, said the information contained in the leaked documents was "terrifying."

"First of all it tells us that the information that was first put out, which was first reported in the news, is almost entirely wrong and misleading.

"There was no suggestion that this person was a suspect in any way, that he was running from the police."

It also suggested the information given to the pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination on de Menezes was incorrect, she told the BBC.

Wistrich urged the government and police to review the shoot-to-kill policy.

"What sort of society are we living in where we can execute suspects?" she said.

De Menezes' family called for the shoot-to-kill policy to be suspended and for a full public inquiry to reveal the "truth."

Allessandro Pereira, de Menezes' cousin, also living in London, said: "My family deserve the full truth about his murder. The truth cannot be hidden any longer. It has to be made public.

"Everything we have said has been proved to be true.

"Jean was an innocent man who was shot in cold blood. We now know that he wasn't wearing a bulky jacket, that he wasn't acting suspiciously or that he was told to stop by the police.

"He was being restrained when he was shot and killed."

He said the police should have stopped his cousin before he got to the bus stop after leaving his home. "He would have helped the police," he said.

"They killed my cousin, they could kill anyone, any English person."

Asad Rehman, spokesman for the Justice4Jean Family Campaign said: "The overwhelming majority of the people of London join us in believing that there can be no alternative but the immediate suspension of the shoot-to-kill policy before another innocent Londoner becomes its victim.

"The home secretary must now use his powers to order a full judicial inquiry into the killing.

"This is the minimum required if we are to have any faith in those responsible for our security and safety.

"We must show that nobody is above the law and that those responsible for the killing will be identified and brought to justice and that we will learn the lessons from this tragic death."

Until now Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has insisted the shoot-to-kill policy, assumed on the advice of Israeli security forces, would remain in place.

In the case of a suicide bomber, only shooting the individual in the head would prevent them from detonating, he told Sky News days after the incident.

More innocent people could be shot as police tried to protect the public, he acknowledged.

However now Blair's role in events is also under scrutiny, as campaigners and the de Menezes family question exactly what the police chief knew when he told the media the victim had been "challenged and refused to obey police instructions."

Former Flying Squad commander John O'Connor said the leaked report would cause "great embarrassment" to the Metropolitan Police commissioner, adding he would be under pressure to "go."

He said it was "very difficult" to blame individuals for de Menezes' death, "simply because it would appear that they were acting on information that this was a positive identification of Osman [Hussain], one of the suspect bombers.

"But had the normal procedures taken place in which a warning is given and officers wear specially marked clothing then this young man may not have been killed."

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