Jean Charles de Menezes

Disputed facts and events

Disputed facts include:

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Clothing

With regards to his dress on the day of the shooting The Observer reported that he was dressed in "baseball cap, blue fleece and baggy trousers." Mark Whitby, a witness to the shooting, told Reuters that he observed Menezes wearing a large winter coat, which "looked out of place". Vivien Figueiredo, a cousin of Menezes, was later told by police that Menezes was wearing a denim jacket on the day of the shooting.{{ref|Family_Briefed_23_08_2005}} Anthony Larkin, another eyewitness, told the BBC that Menezes appeared to be wearing a "bomb belt with wires coming out."

Related Topics:
The Observer - Reuters - BBC - Bomb belt

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Based on these eyewitness reports, press speculation at the time said that wearing such heavy clothing on a warm day raised suspicions that Menezes was hiding explosives underneath, and was therefore a potential suicide bomber. At the time of the shooting, the temperature in London (at a Heathrow Airport weather station) was about 17 °C (62 °F) {{ref|WeatherJuly_22_2005}}.

Related Topics:
Suicide bomber - Heathrow Airport - °C - °F

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No device resembling a bomb belt was reported as found. Menezes was also not carrying a tool bag, since he had left it with his work colleague the previous evening. According to the report on leaked IPCC documents, Menezes was wearing a pair of jeans and a light denim jacket. This was confirmed by a photo' of his body on the floor of the carriage after the shooting.

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Police challenge

Police initially claimed that they challenged Menezes and ordered him to stop outside Stockwell station. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said in a press conference that a warning was issued prior to the shooting. Lee Ruston, an eyewitness who was waiting on the platform, said the police did not identify themselves. The Times reported "senior police sources" as saying that police policy would not require a warning to be given to a suspected suicide bomber before lethal action was taken. {{ref|TimesNoWarning}}

Related Topics:
Metropolitan Police Commissioner - Sir Ian Blair - The Times

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The leaked IPCC documents indicated that Menezes was seated on the train carriage when the SO19 armed unit arrived. A shout of 'police' may have been made, but the suspect never really had an opportunity to respond before he was shot. The leaked documents indicated that he was restrained by an unarmed officer before being shot.

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Ticket barrier

Witnesses claim that up to twenty police officers in plain clothes pursued Menezes into Stockwell station, that he jumped over the ticket barrier, ran down an escalator and tried to jump onto a train.{{ref|firstpressreports_2}} The Menezes' family were briefed by the Police that their son did not jump over the ticket barrier and may have used a Travel Card to pass through.{{ref|Family_Briefed_23_08_2005}}

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The pathologist's post mortem report, which was written in the presence of senior police officers five days after the shooting, recorded that Jean ?vaulted over the ticket barriers? and that he ?ran down the stairs of the tube station?. By this time the police knew that this version of events was incorrect.{{ref|SW_27_08_2005}}

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Police initially refused to release CCTV footage while the IPCC investigation was ongoing, even to the family. It had been suggested that the man reported by eyewitnesses as jumping over the barrier, may have been one of the police officers in pursuit.{{ref|ScotsmanDoubts_July_31_2005}}

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According to the leaked IPCC documents, Menezes passed through the barrier normally using his pre-paid Oyster card.

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CCTV footage

Initial UK media reports suggested that no CCTV footage was available from the Stockwell station, as recording media had not been replaced after being removed for examination after the previous day's attempted bombings. Other reports stated that faulty cameras on the platform were the reason for the lack of video evidence. An anonymous source confirmed that CCTV footage was available for the ticket area, but that there was a problem with the platform coverage. The source suggested that there was no useful CCTV footage from the platform or the train carriage. {{ref|Guardian_August_23_2005}}

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Extracts from a later police report, claimed that examination of the platform cameras had produced no footage. It said: "It has been established that there has been a technical problem with the CCTV equipment on the relevant platform and no footage exists." Furthermore, it reported there was no footage, either, from CCTV in the carriage where Mr de Menezes was shot, saying "Although there was on-board CCTV in the train, due to previous incidents, the hard drive had been removed and not replaced."

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The platform CCTV system is maintained by the Tube Lines consortium in charge of maintaining the Northern Line; unofficial sources from inside the company insisted that the cameras were in working order. It was also reported that London Underground sources insisted that at least three of the four cameras trained on the Stockwell Tube platform were in full working order, and rejected suggestions that the cameras had not been fitted with new tapes after police took away footage from the previous day, July 21, when suspects in the failed bombings caught trains there. {{ref|DailyMail_August_23_2005}}

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Motivations

Several reasons were initially posited by media sources and family members for why Menezes may have run from police, as indicated by initial reports. A few weeks prior, he had been attacked by a gang and may have relived the situation upon seeing plainclothes officers chasing him. Several sources have speculated that irregularities about his immigration status may have given him reason to be wary of the police{{ref|FinancialTimes}}. According to some reports, Menezes' student visa had expired, suggesting that he was working illegally, thus fearful of being deported by authorities{{ref|StudentVisa}}. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a work colleague believed that Menezes ran simply because he was late for his job{{ref|SMHFireAlarm}}.

Related Topics:
Gang - Plainclothes - Sydney Morning Herald

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It was later indicated by the leaked IPCC documents that Menezes ran across the platform apparently to get a seat on the train, but did not know at the time that he was being watched or pursued.

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Gunshots

It was initially stated by police that Menezes was shot five times in the head. Mark Whitby, a passenger on the train Menezes had run onto, said: "one of was carrying a black handgun—it looked like an automatic—He half tripped… they pushed him to the floor, bundled on top of him and unloaded five shots into him." Another passenger, Dan Copeland, said: "an officer jumped on the door to my left and screamed, 'Everybody out!' People just froze in their seats cowering for a few seconds and then leapt up. As I turned out the door onto the platform, I heard four dull bangs."{{ref|quotesontube}} Menezes' cousin Alex Pereira, who lived with him, asserted that Menezes had been shot from behind: "I pushed my way into the morgue. They wouldn't let me see him. His mouth was twisted by the wounds and it looked like he had been shot from the back of the neck." Later reports confirmed that Jean Charles de Menezes was shot a total of eight times: seven times in the head and once in the shoulder. {{ref|inquestshots}}

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The leaked IPCC documents also indicated an additional three shots had missed Menezes. Apparently the eleven shots were evenly distributed over a timespan of thirty seconds.{{ref|TheGuardian30sec}}

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Immigration status

According to initial reports from UK government sources Menezes was living in the country illegally on an expired visa at the time he was killed. Menezes' family believed that his visa had been renewed for an additional five years and that he was working in the country legally {{ref|FiveYearVisa}}. On 28 July, the Home Office issued a statement saying that Menezes had arrived in the UK on 13 March 2002 using a six month tourist visa, and had later applied to remain as a student. That application was granted and allowed him to remain until 30 June 2003. This had not been renewed according to their records{{ref|HomeOffice}}. They also said that that the style of the stamp on his visa had not been in use on the date indicated, implying it was forged.

Related Topics:
28 July - Home Office - 13 March - 2002 - 30 June - 2003

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Involvement of special forces

Several commentators suggested that special forces may have been involved in the shooting. Professor Michael Clarke, Professor of Defence Studies at King's College London, went as far as to say that unless there had been a major change in policy it was likely that it was not the police who had carried out the shooting, but special forces:

Related Topics:
Special forces - King's College London

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:"To have bullets pumped into him like this suggests quite a lot about him and what the authorities, whoever they are, assumed about him. The fact that he was shot in this way strongly suggests that it was someone the authorities knew and suspected he was carrying explosives on him. You don't shoot somebody five times if you think you might have made a mistake and may be able to arrest him. Even Special Branch and SO19 are not trained to do this sort of thing. It's plausible that they were special forces or elements of special forces." {{ref|MichaelClarke}}

Related Topics:
Special Branch - SO19

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Later, on 4 August 2005, The Guardian reported that the newly-created Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), a special forces unit specialising in covert surveillance, were involved in the operation that led to the shooting. The anonymous Whitehall sources who provided the story stressed that the SRR were involved only in intelligence-gathering, and that Menezes was shot by armed police not by members of the SRR or other soldiers. Defence sources would not comment on speculation that SRR soldiers were among the plain-clothes officers who followed Menezes on to the No. 2 bus{{ref|Guardian_SRR}}.

Related Topics:
4 August - 2005 - The Guardian - Special Reconnaissance Regiment - Special forces - Whitehall

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