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| Menezes 'carrying phone, paper' | Menezes 'carrying phone, paper' |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Jean Charles de Menezes was not seen to be carrying anything except a mobile phone and a paper before he was shot dead by police, an inquest has heard. | Jean Charles de Menezes was not seen to be carrying anything except a mobile phone and a paper before he was shot dead by police, an inquest has heard. |
| But the surveillance officer closest to him, codenamed Ivor, said he could not rule out him being a suicide bomber. | But the surveillance officer closest to him, codenamed Ivor, said he could not rule out him being a suicide bomber. |
| The Brazilian was shot dead by police at Stockwell Tube station on 22 July, 2005, after being being mistaken for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman. | The Brazilian was shot dead by police at Stockwell Tube station on 22 July, 2005, after being being mistaken for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman. |
| Mr de Menezes was shot seven times in the head at pointblank range. | |
| The inquest heard Ivor was the closest officer behind the 27-year-old electrician as he boarded a train at the station in south London. | The inquest heard Ivor was the closest officer behind the 27-year-old electrician as he boarded a train at the station in south London. |
| Open jacket | |
| Michael Mansfield QC, counsel for the de Menezes family, asked him: "From what you saw, there was nothing up to that point to suggest that he was a suicide bomber about to detonate a bomb, was there?" | |
| Ivor replied: "I couldn't rule it out, sir, given what I saw, but effectively all I saw him carrying openly was a mobile phone and a newspaper on the train." | Ivor replied: "I couldn't rule it out, sir, given what I saw, but effectively all I saw him carrying openly was a mobile phone and a newspaper on the train." |
| The surveillance officer said Mr de Menezes was wearing appropriate clothes for the weather that day, noting: "He was dressed virtually identical to myself." | |
| Mr Mansfield told the inquest Mr de Menezes had his denim jacket undone "at all times" and was not carrying a bag. | |
| He said a suicide bomber wearing a device on his body would generally detonate it by reaching into a pocket to connect wires to a battery. | |
| 'Close observation' | |
| Ivor told the inquest he could not remember seeing Mr de Menezes putting his hands in his pockets while he was following him. | |
| But he said the police could not rule out the possibility that terrorists had different devices to those used in the July 7 2005 atrocities and the failed attacks on London a fortnight later. | |
| The surveillance officer said he kept Mr de Menezes under "very close observation" and that he was looking for any indication he had a bomb or weapon. | |
| He said: "There was nothing I could confirm either way. I couldn't confirm whether he was carrying anything or whether he didn't have anything under his jacket." | |
| 'Lessons to learn' | |
| Ivor continued: "He wasn't carrying a rucksack, so that wasn't consistent with the attacks the day before. | |
| "However, we do need to learn lessons and, as we know, on July 7 there were successful attacks on the Underground system and indeed a bus. | |
| "I was aware that, in the follow-up operation following those attacks, devices had been recovered - I believe in Luton - that were smaller. | |
| "As for the blast effect of those devices, I don't know. But also recovered was an improvised firearm, and all of this was going through my mind at the time of the follow." | |
| The inquest continues. | The inquest continues. |