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Menezes marksman giving evidence Menezes killer's 'short briefing'
(10 minutes later)
One of the police marksmen who killed Jean Charles de Menezes is giving evidence at the inquest into his death. One of the marksmen who killed Jean Charles de Menezes has told an inquest he had been briefed with only a "pen-sketch idea" of the police operation.
It is the first time the officer from Scotland Yard's elite firearms unit has spoken about the shooting in public. The unnamed officer said he had had a "very short briefing", in light of the previous day's failed London bombings.
The two police marksman who fired the fatal shots have been granted anonymity and are being identified by code names. He told the inquest he thought he had been in "immeasurable danger".
The Brazilian, 27, was shot boarding a Tube train in Stockwell, south London, in July 2005. Police had thought he was failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman. The Brazilian was killed at Stockwell Tube station, south London, on 22 July 2005. Police had mistaken him for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman.
The officer, known as C12, was watched by the Brazilian's mother, Maria Otone de Menezes, 63, and brother, Giovani da Silva, 36, as he gave evidence. The officer - codenamed C12 - was watched as he gave evidence by the Brazilian's mother, Maria Otone de Menezes, 63, and brother, Giovani da Silva, 36.
He is expected to be questioned about exactly what orders he was given and why he was so sure Mr de Menezes was failed London bomber Osman. He had not initially been told of the "urgency" of his deployment and had worked a 14-hour shift the previous day, C12 told the jury at the Oval cricket ground.
The inquest at the Oval cricket ground has heard that C12 and his colleague C2 were "convinced" the electrician was a suicide bomber, about to detonate a bomb on a train. Speaking in public about the incident for the first time, he added he had never fired at a suspect before. They were failed suicide bombers - they had prepared devices in order to achieve mass murder Officer C12
Not a suspect He had been given few details about Osman or the operation during two early morning briefings, he said.
Mr de Menezes was shot dead on 22 July, the day after Osman and others had tried to detonate bombs on London's transport network. "I cannot specifically recall the details but the general talk involved a counter-terrorist operation following the... previous day's bombings," he said.
Police had initially wanted unarmed officers to stop Mr de Menezes, who was not initially considered a suspect, and interview him in case he had information about the failed bombers, the jury has heard. "It was a very short briefing - a pen-sketch idea of what we were doing and where we had to go immediately."
Det Sgt Piers Dingemans was head of a four-strong unarmed plain clothes arrest team monitoring the flats where Mr de Menezes lived, and which had been linked to Osman. The firearms officer was asked about his state of mind after being briefed on the operation.
The team had been tasked with stopping Mr de Menezes as he travelled on the number 2 bus to Stockwell on 22 July but were stood down before they could, Mr Dingemans said. His voice quavered as he told the inquest: "The danger we were facing, or potentially facing, would be immeasurable.
"The idea was to take that person with co-operation, to put that person in our vehicle, to drive away from what was going on," he said. "They were failed suicide bombers. Who knows what their mind set would be? They had prepared devices in order to achieve mass murder.
"They were determined, as we were led to believe, prepared, highly dangerous, and we might have to face them."
Immediate incapacitation
He said he had "signed out" a Glock pistol, a rifle and stun grenades "to equip me for every eventuality".
He had also chosen 124-grain ammunition, which he had been told was best for an "immediate incapacitation".
He said: "This type of ammunition had been researched by other officers and it was found that it would be far more suitable if the subject was a suicide bomber and a critical shot was issued."
The officer had earlier told the inquest he had become a member of the Metropolitan Police's CO19 specialist firearms unit in 1996.
He had volunteered to become a specialist firearms officer and undergone a lengthy selection and training process, including courses in abseiling into buildings and using shotguns.
Nicholas Hilliard QC, counsel to the inquest, asked him: "Before this incident, July 22 2005, I don't think you had ever fired your gun at a suspect. Is that right?"
C12 replied: "That is correct."