Don't wear a denim jacket and act lawfully in London
Channel Four news claims from secret documents and photographs that:* The crucial mistake that ultimately led to his death was made at 9.30am when Jean Charles left his flat in Scotia Road, South London. Surveillance officers wrongly believed he could have been Hussain Osman, one of the prime suspects, or another terrorist suspect.
* Jean Charles De Mene was not carrying any bags, and was wearing a denim jacket, not a bulky winter coat, as had previously been claimed.
* He was behaving normally, and did not vault the barriers, even stopping to pick up a free newspaper.
* CCTV footage, which shows Mr de Menezes entered Stockwell station at a "normal walking pace" and descended slowly on an escalator.
* He started running when we [he?] saw a tube at the platform.
* Police had agreed they would shoot a suspect if he ran.
If all this is true, and although we are not in posession of the full or official facts so far in this tragedy every time we get fuller or more official facts it just gets worse, then it seems that the actual officer who shot Menezes dead was following official procedures based on official intelligence.
The issue now then is what was that intelligence, and what are those procedures? If the intelligence was, as we have been led to believe, that Menezes came out of the same flats as an address one of the bombers had on him, then is that all the procedures need? Plus the fact that he ran for a tube train? And does this mean the 7 or so cases in the two weeks following 7/7 in which the Met nearly shot someone were therefore based on weaker evidence? How soon until it happens again if this is the case?
Let us hope there is more to it than this.
Update: Oh god it gets worse. No photos, no attempt to check the match with the suspects. How can Blair remain in his position?
Update II: Dave points out something I had missed, which is that Menezes was restrained by a surveillance officer before being shot. This therefore might put some of the culpability back on the active officers. The justification would be that they had received a positive ID he was a suicide bomber, and in the moment panicked.
Former Flying Squad commander John O'Connor agrees with me that if true, Sir Iain Blair will be "under pressure to "go".
Finally, this should be a warning to us all, and particularly the news agencies, that eye-witness reports are not to be believed. I think one was of an Asian man in a large winter coat. However, and possibly more troubling, it also means that the Met's statements aren't to be believed in this regard.
posted by Matthew @ 8/16/2005 09:10:00 PM
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