Caught on CCTV, the final journey of Stockwell shooting victim

12 April 2012

These dramatic images capture the last moments of Jean Charles de Menezes before he was shot dead by police.

Revealed for the first time, they trace the 27-year-old's final journey at Stockwell Tube station as he picks up a free newspaper, walks through the ticket barrier and down the escalator.

The CCTV footage was shown to an Old Bailey jury who heard a surveillance officer describe how he held the Brazilian in a train carriage as he was hit by the first of seven shots to the head.

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Jean Charles de Menezes, marked as JC, enters station

Through the ticket barrier he is followed by officer Ivor

The officer, codenamed Ivor, said: "The scene was extremely violent, extremely noisy and obviously distressing.

"Members of the public were emptying the carriage obviously in distress. There was a lot of gunsmoke."

He described how he held Mr de Menezes down after the Brazilian stood up from his seat.

He said: "I grabbed Mr de Menezes wrapping both my arms around the torso, pinning his arms against his side, pushing him back to the seat with the right hand side of my head against the right hand side of his torso, pinning him to the seat.

"He appeared to stiffen up. He was not in natural sitting position but he was back in the seat where he had been sitting.

"After a few moments I felt his head turn towards me. I was aware of a CO19 officer kneeling on the seat to my left.

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On the escalator, the Brazilian is moments from death

"I heard a gunshot very close to my left ear and was hit by a shockwave of a gun being discharged."

In the confusion Ivor, who was dressed similarly to Mr de Menezes, was dragged to the floor by a firearms officer and had a gun pointed at his chest.

Another surveillance officer, codenamed James, told the court how minutes earlier he had ordered his team to follow Mr de Menezes into the station but was alarmed to hear a firearms unit had also arrived.

He said: "My concern was that officer Ivor was dressed identically to Mr de Menezes."

He feared there would be a "blue on blue", when one police officer shoots another.

James said he became "tetchy" after controllers told him to wait, even though Mr de Menezes was just about to enter the station and enter the radio dead zone of the underground.

He contacted the control room while Mr de Menezes was on a bus from Brixton to Stockwell.

He said: "I came on the radio and asked them a question: 'Do you want me to detain the subject before he goes down to the Tube?'

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De Menezes was blasted seven times in the head after wrongly being identified as a terrorist

"My instructions were to wait. I told them we had got to make a decision and we have probably about 20 seconds. I said again: 'Do you want this man detained?'

"I just got, wait, wait, wait. I started to get tetchy and put down the telephone."

The prosecution claim Mr de Menezes was shot dead as the result of a bungled police operation which put the public in danger.

Police believed he was July 21 suicide bomber Hussain Osman and had followed every move of his half-hour journey from his home on July 22, 2005 to the moment he died.

Scotland Yard is standing trial under Health and Safety laws over the killing. It denies the charge and claims the prosecution has failed to understand how the police service works.

The trial continues.

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