Death of Jean Charles de Menezes - Inquest

Inquest

The inquest opened on 22 September 2008 at John Major conference room at The Oval, Kennington, London. The coroner, Sir Michael Wright, a former High Court judge and assistant deputy coroner for Inner South London, and the jury were to hear from almost 70 witnesses, including over 40 police officers.

On the first day, the inquest heard that the police officers who shot Menezes dead were "convinced" at the time that he was a suicide bomber. In his comments, Sir Michael Wright said that the two officers thought Menezes was about to detonate a "device" on the Tube. He took the inquest jury through the events leading up to Menezes's death, listing a number of occasions where officers were unclear whether or not they thought they were pursuing a bomber. The jury was told of differences between what was being relayed on radio and logged in the Scotland Yard control room and how the officers in the field were interpreting the information.

He said that as Menezes entered the Stockwell Tube station, no member of the surveillance team had positively identified him as Hussain Osman. Regarding the decision of the two marksmen to shoot Menezes, Sir Michael said that they had fired nine rounds between them, seven of which had struck Menezes's head at point blank range. He added that the two officers concerned were convinced that Menezes was a suicide bomber about to detonate a device, and that the only option open was an instant killing.

On 13 October the IPCC launched an investigation after a Metropolitan police surveillance officer named only as "Owen" admitted that he had altered evidence submitted to the inquest. The officer had deleted one of his own computer notes which quoted deputy assistant commissioner Cressida Dick as concluding that Menezes was not a security threat. The note said "CD – can run on to tube as not carrying anything".

On 24 October the inquest heard that Menezes was initially not considered as a suspect, and that the police wanted unarmed officers to halt and question him in case he had information about the failed terrorist attack of 21 July 2005. Detective Sergeant Piers Dingemans and a four-man squad were tasked with stopping Menezes for intelligence purposes as he travelled to Stockwell station on a bus. Dingeamans told the inquest that his car was behind the bus when he was stood down at 09:55, and said he thought this was because Menezes was then considered a suspect.

On 2 December Sir Michael ordered the jury, shortly before it retired to consider its verdict, that they may not return one of "unlawful killing," leaving their options as "lawful killing," or an open verdict. Sir Michael said that the verdict could not be inconsistent with the earlier criminal trial. As well as the short form verdict of "lawful killing" or "open", Sir Michael also asked them to respond to three questions of fact, and nine possible contributory factors with simple "yes," "no," or "cannot decide" answers. The Menezes family lodged an immediate application for a judicial review of the decision.

On 4 December, during Sir Michael's summing up, members of the Menezes family got up and undid their jackets exposing printed slogans on their t-shirts, with the wording "Your legal right to decide – unlawful killing verdict," and left the court room after pausing for 30 seconds in front of the jury. The following day, Sir Michael asked the jury to ignore the protest. In his summing up, Sir Michael stated that to return a verdict of lawful killing, the jury should be, "satisfied of two matters on the balance of probabilities:

(a) that at the time they fired, Charlie 2 and Charlie 12 honestly believed that Mr de Menezes represented an imminent mortal danger to them and/or others around them; and

(b) that they used no more force than was reasonably necessary in the circumstances as they honestly believed them to be."

If the jury was not satisfied on both of these, they were to return an open verdict.

On 9 December, the jury asked the coroner whether they were required to find unanimity on the short form verdict and all of the additional questions. Sir Michael instructed them that they should strive for unanimity, but he would accept a 10–1 or 9–2 verdict. Later that day one of the jury was permanently dismissed owing to travel plans, reducing the jury to 10, and the following day Sir Michael said he would now accept a 9–1 or 8–2 verdict.

On Friday, 12 December 2008 the inquest into Jean Charles' death returned an open verdict. Their answers to the specific questions and contributory facts were as follows

NOTE: The officer identified as "Ivor" was a member of a SO12 Special Branch covert surveillance team who had followed Menezes on the bus and attempted to identify him. He has also been designated as "Hotel 3". The officer identified as "C12" or "Charlie 12" was a member of a CO19 firearms unit who first opened fire and killed Menezes.

In November 2009, the Metropolitan Police reached a compensation deal with the family of Jean Charles de Menezes. This marked the end of litigation between the parties. The amount of compensation was not disclosed.