'PM was asked to relax terror laws'

Tony Blair discussed "maximising" legal protection with the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner on the day of the July 21 failed bomb attacks on London.

Innocent Mr de Menezes was killed at point blank range by firearms officers the next morning.

The meeting came to light as a jury was shown a letter Sir Ian wrote to the Home Office on the day of the Stockwell shooting.

Chief Superintendent Steve Swain, a senior officer who helped develop anti-terror tactics at Scotland Yard, refused to comment on the document. When Michael Mansfield QC, for the de Menezes family, asked if Sir Ian was saying officers should be allowed "to just shoot", Mr Swain replied: "I do not remember much of the detail so if you do not mind I would not want to say much about it."

An extract of the letter, read out by Mr Mansfield to the jury at the Oval cricket ground, south London, said: "In the meeting we had with the Prime Minister yesterday, I raised the issue of maximising the legal protection for officers who had to take decisions in relation to people believed to be suicide bombers.

"This is clearly a fast-time decision-making process, one which officers cannot risk the kind of containment and negotiation tactics which would normally be the case. Put simply, the only choice an officer may have could be to shoot-to-kill in order to prevent the detonation of a device.

"In due course I believe we need a document similar to the military rules of engagement."

Police marksmen shot the 27-year-old seven times in the head on a train carriage at Stockwell Tube, south London, on July 22 2005. He had been mistaken for one of the terrorists behind the previous day's failed suicide attacks on the capital.

The letter was "mistakenly" dated July 21 - and had been sent after the shooting, the inquest heard. The inquest, due to last 12 weeks, was adjourned until Friday.