De Menezes family says Met police chief must go

Times Online
Aug. 19, 2005

Relatives of Jean Charles de Menezes today described the Metropolitan Police as a "Laurel and Hardy" outfit and intensified calls for Sir Ian Blair to resign as Commissioner.

The family said that Sir Ian, the police chief, must take personal responsibility for the "catalogue of errors" which led to the 27-year-old Brazilian electrician's shooting on board a Tube train, and Scotland Yard's subsequent attempts to "cover up" the circumstances surrounding his killing.

Alessandro Pereira, 25, the dead man's cousin, described the family's suffering in the wake of Mr de Menezes' killing on July 22 by armed police who mistook him for a suicide bomber. He said that he believed police had subsequently told "lie after lie" in an attempt to cover up their mistakes.

"I have always believed that those who break the law should be punished and some people have broken the law," said Mr Pereira.

"They have killed Jean and then told lies. They must face justice. We want to see all those responsible brought to justice. We want to see them prosecuted."

He told the conference in Stockwell, south London: "Jean came to London full of optimism and hopes. He loved London. He loved its vibrancy. He loved the fact that it was home to people from all over the world. He was so happy to call it home.

"He was going to work on the Tube like millions of us do every day, except that on July 22 as he went to work he was murdered, an innocent man.

"The people who killed him were police officers. I want the people of London to imagine hearing that your son, your brother or your father had been killled on the Tube. Shot dead."

Although softly spoken, his anger was unmistakable: "I then want you to think how we felt when we were told he was a suspected terrorist. That he looked like a suicide bomber. That he was wearing a big jacket. That he ran from police.

"I want Ian Blair to think how it was to phone our family in Brazil and tell them that their son was dead. That he was killed in such a way. We had to answer my family's questions about how and why he died.

"I want Ian Blair to imagine how we felt having to listen to the lies about why he is dead. To see Ian Blair on television telling those lies.

"The police knew he was innocent yet they let my family suffer, Ian Blair let us suffer for three weeks. We have had to listen to lie after lie about Jean and how he was killed.

"The police went to Brazil, they met my family yet they still didn't tell us the truth. Did they think because we are poor Brazilians we don't deserve the truth? If that was Ian Blair's son would he not want the truth?

"If he didn't know, why didn't he know? If he knew, why didn't he tell the world? My cousin was not a terrorist. Why did he lie to us?

"My family have so many questions. We want to know why for six days there was no independent investigation. If there was nothing to hide, why did Ian Blair stop this investigaton? We want to know what has been lost, what he has tried to hide.

"For the sake of my family, for the sake of the people of London, those responsible must resign. Ian Blair should resign."

Yasmin Kahn, who is acting as a spokeswoman for the family's campaign, said that the Met had shown itself to be a "Laurel and Hardy police operation".

She said that serious questions remained over what she described as its shoot-to-kill policy, its incompetence and the attempted cover-up by Ian Blair and Government officials.

She said: "The family will be seeking justice. Those responsible for Jean's murder, namely Ian Blair, need to resign."

Sir Ian has made it clear that he will resist any calls for his resignation and has insisted that although mistakes were made in the initial police accounts surrounding Mr de Menezes death, there was no attempt to mislead the public or cover up the truth.

The Jean Charles de Menezes Family Campaign announced that a demonstration will be held marking one month to the day since the shooting at Stockwell Tube on Monday.

They are calling for as many people as possible to descend on Downing Street on August 22 at 6pm to call for "no more cover up", the sacking of Sir Ian Blair and an immediate public inquiry.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said that the force was unable to respond to the specific allegations while the IPCC investigation continues.

The July 22 shooting is now subject to three separate inquiries.

The Metropolitan Police has called in the Director of Professional Standards to carry out a routine internal investigation into the operational procedures which led to the killing.

The delayed probe by the independent regulator the IPPC, which was set up 18 months ago to replace the Police Complaints Authority, is now under way.

And the Brazilian Government has launched its own independent review, sending two delegates to Britain on Monday to interview senior police and Home Office officials.

Demands for a full and open public inquiry, led by Kate Hoey, Mr de Menezes’s local Labour MP in Vauxhall, have so far been resisted. Sir Ian is said to have requested a 'Hutton style' judicial probe, like that conducted into the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly, to investigate specific details of the shooting.