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Terror police nearly shot Tube driver
Paul Cheston, Evening Standard1 Oct 2007
Police marksmen almost killed a Tube driver and a fellow officer in the chaos that ended in the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, a court heard today.
The Met attempt to follow and stop the 27-year-old, who was wrongly suspected of being a terrorist, was so badly planned and run that it "invited disaster," it was claimed.
The Old Bailey this afternoon heard of the extraordinary scenes at Stockwell Tube station in which an armed officer pointed his gun at the train driver cowering in the tunnel. And one of the surveillance officers who had tailed Mr de Menezes was dragged along the floor of the carriage by one of the armed officers who was pointing his weapon at his chest, despite his pleas to be a police officer.
Prosecutor Clare Montgomery, QC, told the jury: "You may think the fact the police ended up pointing a gun at another policeman and mistaking a terrorised Tube driver for a terrorist gives you a clue as to just how far wrong the operation had gone."
An innocent man died because of blunders at every level at Scotland Yard and the lives of Londoners were put at risk, the jury was told.
Despite officers believing Mr de Menezes was a potential suicide bomber, he was still allowed to get on a crowded bus and then a Tube train where he could have launched a "murderous attack on London's morning rush hour".
Mr de Menezes was followed from his flat in Tulse Hill on 22 July 2005 as police hunted the four bombers who had tried to blow up the transport system the day before.
"The police operation that led to the tragic shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes was fundamentally flawed," said Ms Montgomery, adding: "It invited disaster."
She added: "A series of failures by officers at all levels combined to put the public, including Jean Charles, at risk . Those risks were not trivial but grave and serious."
The risks occurred because of a failure to follow the strategy put in place earlier that morning by Commander John McDowell, who launched the surveillance, it is alleged. "There was fundamental confusion about what the operation involved and what the police were supposed to be doing." said Ms Montgomery.
"The disaster was not the result of a fast moving operation going suddenly and unpredictably awry - it was the result of fundamental failures to carry out a planned operation in a safe and reasonable way."
Mr de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician, left for work at 9.33 am from his flat in Scotia Road, Stockwell.
Police were watching outside after a gym card found at the site of the failed bombing at Shepherd's Bush the day before linked the address to one of the bombers, Hussain Osman.
The Met, and its chief, Commissioner Sir Ian Blair, is accused of breaches of health and safety rules by putting the public at risk in the way they carried out the operation.
The force, which could be fined millions of pounds if found guilty, denies the charges.
The court was told that:
• No firearms officers were posted outside the flat where Mr de Menezes was living for nearly four hours after the operation was launched at 6am - meaning that if he had been a bomber he could have carried out an attack.
• Even when he stepped out at 9.33am, armed officers were filling their cars with petrol and none had arrived at the scene.
• Officers in the control room did not clearly understand what surveillance officers following the Brazilian were saying.
• The unarmed surveillance team had no idea as they followed Mr de Menezes down Stockwell Tube's escalators that armed police ordered to "stop" him were following them.
Ms Montgomery told the jury: "The activities of the Met police officers were conducted in such a way that the public were exposed to the possibility of danger. One particular member of the public who was put in danger was Mr de Menezes." Ms Montgomery said: "Some of the officers watching him thought he might be a suspected suicide bomber who lived in the same block - others did not."
Officers followed him to the Tube station where he was killed. Mr de Menezes was shot in the head by two armed officers as he was being held by another officer on the Tube train.
"The breaches of duty occurred because of mistakes and failures by a number of different officers." The failure to stop him in a "controlled and considered manner" made it far more likely he would be shot when confronted and it was a "matter of luck" that others were not killed or injured by the operation.
The court heard this afternoon of further blunders when the Special Branch surveillance officer ordered to video each person leaving the Scotia Road flats was answering a call of nature when Mr de Menzes left the building. The officer known as "Frank" was unable to switch his camera on in time".
A second surveillance team had been called in early for a briefing at Scotland Yard and were told by Detective Inspector Andrew Whiddett that they had to contain the block of flats.
When an officer asked his superior what "contain" meant, the inspector just shrugged his shoulders, the court heard.
By this time CommanderCressida Dick had been brought in to take the specific decision whether a suspected suicide bomber shuld be shot to prevent detonation of a bomb, the court heard. This was known as an " Operation Kratos scenario" and by 7.15am - two hours before Mr de Menezes left home - she was in charge of the whole Scotia Road operation.
The case continues.
