Morning:
8°c
Marksman: I did yell alert to Menezes
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent27 Oct 2008
A POLICE marksman today insisted he yelled "armed police" at Jean Charles de Menezes before shooting him dead at Stockwell Tube station.
Yet the inquest has heard that none of his colleagues nor any member of the public at the scene heard any warning to the innocent Brazilian.
In a dramatic exchange across the courtroom the officer known as C12 was forced to deny "grossly exaggerating" his evidence to justify opening fire on the man he believed was a suicide bomber.
The highly-trained firearms officer said he had raised his gun and shouted a warning to Mr de Menezes on the Northern Line train the day after the 21/7 attempted suicide bombing attack.
He said Mr de Menezes kept approaching him and he had "no alternative", based on his understanding that he was a bomber, but to shoot to kill to prevent any device the suspect might have had being detonated.
Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot seven times in the head at point-blank range on 22 July 2005 after being mistaken for on-the-run terrorist Hussain Osman.
Michael Mansfield QC, for the Menezes family, alleged that the statements of other witnesses proved that C12 had not warned the Brazilian before shooting him.
He put it to the officer: "Of course people see different things and they have a different-take on it, but nobody sees this at all. Now do you think that you could be wrong and you have made a serious mistake in assessment?"
C12 replied: "No, I don't." The officer said he distinctly remembered shouting "armed police" at Mr de Menezes because afterwards he thought, "why the hell did I challenge him?"
If the innocent Brazilian had indeed been a terrorist this could have been disastrous by alerting him to the presence of police, he explained.
But Mr Mansfield went on: "I want to give you another opportunity - and it may be your last opportunity - to face a certain reality. That you shot an innocent man who you had not properly assessed, who you never gave any chance to, because you were consumed with the thought of what he might have done the previous day."
Earlier, the marksman admitted he could have intercepted before Mr de Menezes got to Stockwell station.
He apologised for failing to tell bosses he was "within striking distance" when the Brazilian got off a bus near the station. But he had not heard radio traffic from his colleagues saying no firearms team members were able to get there in time.
The inquest continues.
