Police are not 'above the law,' judge tells jurors in de Menezes trial

Jurors in the Stockwell shooting trial were told yesterday that the police are "not above the law".

A judge said officers were accountable for their actions in the run-up to the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, an innocent Brazilian.

Summing up the case, Mr Justice Henriques said the jury should not concern itself with the implications for policing when deciding on a verdict.

Instead, its members should focus squarely on the events of July 22, 2005, when Mr de Menezes was shot dead by firearms officers who mistakenly believed he was terrorist Hussain Osman.

It is alleged that a "catastrophic" series of errors by the Metropolitan Police led to the death of the 27-year-old electrician at Stockwell Tube station in South London.

The force denies a single charge under health and safety legislation.

Mr Justice Henriques told the Old Bailey jury: "You are not in any way concerned with the future or the effect of this prosecution.

"To suggest that it is wrong to prosecute the police for an alleged offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act is to submit that the police are above the law. It applies to them as it applies to any other employer.

"They are accountable. There is no room here for any verdict based on sympathy either for the Menezes family or for the predicament of any police officer."

The judge said July 2005 was a "dark month" in the history of London, reminding them of the deadly suicide bomb attacks on the Tube and the bus on July 7 and the failed attacks two weeks later on July 21.

Three of the attempted bombers on July 21 had entered the transport system at Stockwell, he said.

The next day, police were monitoring a block of flats linked to Osman when Mr de Menezes emerged and was covertly followed on to two buses and into Stockwell station.

He was shot dead in the carriage of a stationary train at 10.05am when taken for Osman, the failed Shepherd's Bush bomber.

The judge told jurors that the prosecution alleged police officers carried out the operation "so very badly" that the public were put at risk and Mr de Menezes was killed.

The trial continues.