Blair 'aware of IPCC block'

Chief Inspector Stephen Costello, a post-incident manager at Scotland Yard, revealed that the then Prime Minister was consulted over a decision to stop the Independent Police Complaints Commission from entering Stockwell Tube station in the wake of the killing.

Mr Costello gave evidence after retired Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick criticised operations, describing an order which led to the Brazilian's shooting as "ambiguous".

Mr Costello was asked about a note in his records saying "directed by Detective Superintendent Wolfenden not to allow IPCC access to scene". The post-incident manager told a jury at the Oval cricket ground, south London: "This was at the request of the commissioner and I have noted that the Prime Minister had been consulted - that is my recollection at the time that I wrote this note."

When asked why, he added: "This was an ongoing counter-terrorism investigation."

Police marksmen shot Mr de Menezes seven times in the head at point-blank range on a train carriage on July 22 2005. He had been mistaken for one of the terrorists behind the previous day's failed suicide attacks on the capital.

Dr Kenneth Shorrock, who carried out post-mortem examinations after Mr de Menezes was killed, told how he was wrongly informed that the Brazilian "vaulted" over a ticket barrier before he was shot dead. He wrongly recorded in his notes that the Brazilian jumped over a barrier and stumbled down an escalator in the moments before officers opened fire.

He said he was given the false information during a "walk-through" with officers at Stockwell Tube station, south London, in the hours after the shooting.

When asked why there were "significant errors" in his initial report, he replied: "This was what was told to me. What happened at that time was that there were a lot of officers present and we were taken through. I did not write anything down. I did not make any note of who told me what - but, at the next opportunity that I had, I got my Dictaphone."

On Tuesday a jury heard how the train driver fled into a tunnel as police shot dead the Brazilian because he believed firearms officers were terrorist "fanatics". The inquest, due to last 12 weeks, was adjourned until Thursday.