Commuters tell of Menezes shooting

A couple sat opposite the Brazilian in the carriage said the gun-wielding plain clothes officers fired on him without shouting a warning.

Rachel Wilson told the inquest into Mr de Menezes's death she thought the men were "playing a game" with a friend until she saw her hands were spattered with blood. Her boyfriend, Ralph Livock, said they had no idea whether the gunmen were police or terrorists.

Passengers on board the Northern Line train where Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot dead on July 22 2005 spoke about the shooting in public for the first time. Their accounts appear to contradict the assertions of firearms officers that they shouted "armed police" at the Brazilian before killing him.

Mr Livock and Ms Wilson recalled that the service stopped at Stockwell station in south London for longer than usual that morning. All of a sudden they heard somebody shouting "he's here" outside the train, then several casually-dressed men armed with guns boarded their carriage.

Mr Livock said: "One of my initial thoughts was it was all a game and they were a group of lads who were just having a laugh - a very bad taste laugh but just having a game on the Tube. Because they were just dressed in jeans and t-shirts but with firearms."

Nicholas Hilliard QC, counsel to the inquest, asked him: "Had you heard anything said about police?" Mr Livock replied: "No, certainly not.

"And I remember that specifically because one of the conversations that Rachel and I had afterwards was that we had no idea whether these were police, whether they were terrorists, whether they were somebody else. We just had no idea."

He added: "The thing that made me realise it wasn't a group of lads playing around or something else happening was when the first shot was fired."

His girlfriend told the inquest the officers said nothing to identify themselves. The Brazilian did not appear frightened but looked as if he was "waiting for somebody to tell him what was going on", the commuter said.