London police guilty of endangering public in Menezes shooting

Nov 1, 2007, 15:45 GMT

27-year-old Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes was shot at Stockwell Tube station in south London, on July 22, 2005. EPA/FACUNDO ELARRIZ

London - London's Metropolitan Police (Met) was Thursday found guilty of breaching health and safety laws in connection with the accidental shooting two years ago of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, killed because he was mistaken for a terrorist.

A jury at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London ruled that the Met committed a criminal offence by 'exposing the public of London to danger' during the shooting on July 22, 2005.

The 27-year-old Brazilian electrician was shot seven times in the head by undercover marksmen on an Underground train in Stockwell, London, on the morning of July 22, a day after police had foiled a second suicide bombing on London's transport network, following the major attack two weeks earlier.

The prosecution under the Health and Safety Act was brought by the relatives of de Menezes, who have been leading a campaign to achieve justice for his murder.

The jury stressed that while it had not been its task to 'attach personal culpability' over the de Menezes shooting, the London police force as a whole had 'failed to protect the public' on the day.

The verdict is a grave embarrassment for Ian Blair, head of the Met, who has repeatedly apologized for the shooting but said he only learnt the next day that an innocent man had been the victim.