Menezes had safety worries - cousin

The 27-year-old Brazilian telephoned the two women cousins with whom he shared a south London flat in the wake of the failed July 21 suicide bombings.

Vivian Figueiredo, who grew up with Mr de Menezes in Brazil, said he called from his work as an electrician in north London to check on her.

In a statement read out during the third day of the inquest into his death, Ms Figueiredo said her cousin was deeply concerned by the second wave of suicide attacks.

She said: "I felt quite scared. I felt that London was beginning to become a dangerous place to live. I was wondering where we should live.

"Jean said we needed to pray and hope not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. That was in fact the last conversation I had with him."

Ms Figueiredo also revealed Mr de Menezes was stopped and searched by police at Brixton Tube station less than a month before he was mistaken for a suicide bomber.

She said a police dog handler searched his rucksack, which contained tools, after the dog "licked" Mr de Menezes at the entrance to the station.

Members of the de Menezes family and their supporters sat in the courtroom at the Oval cricket ground, less than a mile from Stockwell Tube station, as the statements were read out. Mr de Menezes was shot seven times by two CO19 officers at the station after being mistaken for on-the-run suicide bomber Hussain Osman as he travelled to work.

The inquest will examine why armed officers and some of their superiors believed he was a suicide bomber when not one surveillance officer positively identified him.