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Menezes police 'out of control' says eyewitness
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent3 Nov 2008
POLICE marksmen who shot Jean Charles de Menezes were "out of control", the inquest heard today.
Tube passenger Anna Dunwoodie said she was "very, very clear" that officers did not shout a warning to the Brazilian before opening fire.
She described a "sense of panic" among officers as Mr de Menezes was shot seven times in the head. She also told the court that she had felt under pressure when giving her statement to the police while still "shaken up".
Ms Dunwoodie whose account is the most dramatic the inquest at the Oval cricket ground has heard was sitting only two or three seats from Mrde Menezes on the northbound Northern line train after he boarded at Stockwell station. As armed police burst into the carriage she said the 27-year-old appeared calm as a gun was held to his head.
Insisting she had never heard any officer shout anything at Mr de Menezes, she added: "Had they shouted I would have latched on to that."
Describing the scenes of panic on the carriage, she went on: "I think it was the man, who I now know to be a surveillance officer, [who] really seemed to be frightened or hyped up I felt they were a bit out of control."
The armed officer known as C12 who led the assault has told the inquest he shouted "armed police" but Mr de Menezes advanced towards him leaving him no option but to open fire.
Officers believed the electrician was one of the would-be suicide bombers who had tried to detonate bombs on London's transport network the day before, 21 July 2005.
But Ms Dunwoodie said Mr de Menezes had his eyes shut as firearms officers pointed a weapon at his head.
She added: "His eyes were closed and he looked almost calm I guess he had a gun pressed to his head and there was not anything he could do about it."
Before the shooting, she said police were "shouting amongst themselves. I did not know who they were. I thought it was a gang. There was a sense of lots of men, lots of guns, everything was so fast."
Ms Dunwoodie added that before the shooting she had felt most threatened by a man who turned out to be a surveillance officer, using the code name Ivor. Ivor told the jury that Mr de Menezes stood up and walked towards him. But Ms Dunwoodie said she had no recollection of Mr de Menezes doing anything and that she was "most frightened" of Ivor. "He made me feel very nervous. He seemed to have stuff in his bag and there was a metallic noise. He then ran to the door opposite," she said.
She later heard Ivor shouting "there he is" as he pointed to Mr de Menezes. Ms Dunwoodie added: "I thought [Ivor] was my main threat."
Two other witnesses who were in the carriage also said they had no recollection of any police warnings.
Robert Preston and Mark Whitby both told the inquest that all they heard was "get down, get down!", and that there was "not one mention of armed police".
The hearing continues.
