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Tube death coroner raises concerns

4 Mar 2009


The coroner who presided over the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes has criticised the "stark difference" in the way police officers and civilians were treated in the wake of the shooting.

Sir Michael Wright highlighted a string of flaws at Scotland Yard after officers' accounts of the shooting were sensationally rejected last year.

In his recommendations, sent to Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, he expressed his concern that officers were allowed to work on their accounts together "for a period of many hours" after the shooting on July 22, 2005.

Sir Michael wrote: "There was a stark difference between their experience and the treatment of civilians, who were required to give their accounts promptly and independently.

"Officers were not cross-examined on the basis that their evidence was the product of independent recollection."

His report follows a three-month inquest at the Oval cricket ground, which ended in December after jurors dismissed Scotland Yard's claim that the killing was lawful.

The jury rejected claims by firearms officers in favour of evidence given by passengers who witnessed the gruesome scenes on a Tube train at Stockwell, south London.

Sir Michael, a former High Court judge who was attacked for ruling out an unlawful killing verdict at the end of the inquest, said in his Rule 43 report that the "unprecedented" situation faced by officers after the failed bombings the day before offered some explanation for the shooting.

He added: "The command structure for the operation on July 22 2005 was repeatedly criticised as lacking clarity and being open to misunderstanding.

"In part, this was probably because the MPS was facing an unprecedented situation - a series of unsuccessful attempts at suicide attacks on the transport system."

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