De Menezes shooting: no officers face charges

By Richard Edwards

The decision finally clears the commanders in the bungled police operation and the two marksmen who shot the innocent Brazilian seven times in the head at Stockwell Tube station in July 2005.

In December, an inquest jury found that catastrophic failures by police led to the killing of Mr de Menezes, who was mistakenly identified as a suicide bomber.

They returned an open verdict - rejecting the option of deciding that de Menezes was lawfully killed. They also dismissed the accounts of marksmen, known as C2 and C12, who claimed they had shouted a warning before shooting him, and that he had advanced "aggressively'' towards them.

It was the most damaging outcome possible for the Metropolitan Police after the coroner, Sir Michael Wright, had earlier ruled out the possibility of an unlawful killing verdict.

But Crown Prosecution Service lawyers, reviewing the evidence for a second time since the shooting in July 2005, said that no new evidence emerged to warrant a prosecution.

Stephen O'Doherty, of CPS Special Crime Division, said: "I have now concluded that there is insufficient evidence that any offence was committed by any individual officers in relation to the tragic death of Mr de Menezes.

"In reaching this decision, I considered the whether the officers known as C2 and C12 acted in self defence in shooting Mr de Menezes and also whether they lied to the inquest about what was said and done immediately before the shooting.

"The answers the jury provided to specific questions they were asked by the coroner made it clear, albeit to a civil standard, that the jury did not accept the officers' accounts of what happened.

"However, although there were some inconsistencies in what the officers said at the inquest, there were also inconsistencies in what passengers had said. I concluded that in the confusion of what occurred on the day, a jury could not be sure that any officer had deliberately given a false account of events.

"I also considered the actions of the individual officers in the police management team on that day and considered whether there was sufficient evidence to charge any of them with gross negligence manslaughter.

"There was no fresh evidence from the inquest which caused me to change my original decision that there was insufficient evidence to do so.

"I have today written to the de Menezes family explaining my decision."

The de Menezes family, who said they felt "vindicated'' by the inquest jury's findings, are said to be unhappy that no action will be taken.

They had accused the coroner of "failing on every count'' to ensure justice because of the severe limitations he had placed on the jury's deliberations.