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Menezes marksman 'short briefing' Menezes man overcome by emotion
(about 5 hours later)
One of the police marksmen who shot Jean Charles de Menezes has told an inquest he had been briefed with only a "pen-sketch idea" of the operation. One of the police marksmen who shot Jean Charles de Menezes has broken down while giving evidence as he offered his condolences to the Brazilian's family.
The unnamed officer also described police radio quality as "awful" in the minutes before the shooting. Shooting an innocent man was something he would have "to live with for the rest of my life", he told an inquest.
He told the inquest he thought he had been in "immeasurable danger". But he said he had had "no alternative" other than to protect the public.
The Brazilian was killed at Stockwell Tube station, south London, on 22 July 2005. Police had mistaken him for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman. Mr de Menezes, 27, was killed on 22 July 2005 in Stockwell, south London, after police mistook him for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman.
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. The Brazilian's mother, Maria Otone de Menezes, 63, and brother, Giovani da Silva, 36, heard the unnamed officer give evidence at the Oval cricket ground.
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. He said: "I can't begin to put myself in the position that they are faced with.
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 "I am a family man myself and to lose a son or any member of your family in this situation - I just couldn't believe it.
He had been given few details about Osman or the operation during two early morning briefings, he said. "And I offer my sincere condolences, I really, really respectfully do that."
"I cannot specifically recall the details but the general talk involved a counter-terrorist operation following the... previous day's bombings," he said. Commenting after the hearing, Mr de Menezes's mother said it had been difficult to listen to the officer's evidence, but she wanted to hear the truth of how her son died.
"It was a very short briefing - a pen-sketch idea of what we were doing and where we had to go immediately." I formed the opinion that he's going to detonate - he's going to kill us and I have to act now Officer C12
The firearms officer was asked about his state of mind after being briefed on the operation. The officer - codenamed C12 - had told the jury he was in "immeasurable danger" in the run-up to the incident.
His voice quavered as he told the inquest: "The danger we were facing, or potentially facing, would be immeasurable. He said he was prepared to tackle terrorists intent on "mass murder" in the light of the previous day's failed attempts to bomb London's transport network and believed Mr de Menezes had been positively identified as a bomber.
"They were failed suicide bombers. Who knows what their mind set would be? They had prepared devices in order to achieve mass murder. When asked what he was going to do as he followed Mr de Menezes onto the train at Stockwell tube station, the officer replied: "Primarily to intercept him. To stop him, perhaps to detain him."
"They were determined, as we were led to believe, prepared, highly dangerous, and we might have to face them." He said Mr de Menezes had been wearing a blue denim jacket that appeared bulky and that his behaviour had been "in keeping with a man acting suspiciously, with being a potential suicide bomber".
Fuzzy signals The inquest was told that C12 shouted: "Armed police!" before a very quick succession of events.
C12 said he had been told by Trojan 84, a senior firearms detective, that "any subject would not be left to run". "I brought up the weapon in his facial area. He continued towards us.
He said he had been told "they would be intercepted as soon as possible" by the specialist firearms team. "At that stage, I formed the opinion that he's going to detonate. He's going to kill us and I have to act now to stop this from happening."
Describing the radio signals during the operation, he said: "They were so bad that I distinctly remember... thinking that another channel is coming over into our channel." Mr Menezes was wrestled back into his chair by the surveillance officer and held down, the inquest heard.
The coroner asked him whether he meant that the radio signal was "weak, faint or fuzzy, so that you couldn't understand what was being said, or what?". Officer C12 said: "This was an identified suicide bomber to me.
C12 replied: "All of those - it was awful." "There was no other alternative. I had a duty to protect the public. I could not afford to miss."
Trojan 84 had also briefed the firearms teams that they would have to trust information they received and accept without question any orders from a "designated senior officer" to fire a fatal shot, the inquest heard. 'Covered in blood'
C12 told the inquest: "We on the ground might not be party to all the information that is coming in at the time. The officer was asked why he had shot Mr de Menezes three times and he replied that he had detected movements.
"So in a specific situation there might not be time to question a given order. "I had to be certain that life was extinct, that there wasn't any more threat, that this person couldn't detonate a bomb," he said.
"We would just have to act to the best of our ability if a critical shot is authorised." Shortly afterwards, the officer broke down and the coroner adjourned the hearing.
He said he had "signed out" a Glock pistol, a rifle and stun grenades "to equip me for every eventuality". When it resumed, C12 recalled being "covered in blood" after the shooting.
Immediate incapacitation He described his feelings when he learned the next day that the man he shot was not Osman.
He had also chosen high-density 124-grain ammunition, which he had been told was best for an "immediate incapacitation". He told the inquest he had had "a sense of disbelief and of shock, sadness, confusion".
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." "Everything I have ever trained for - for threat assessment, seeing threats, perceiving threats and acting on threats - proved wrong," he said.
The officer had earlier told the inquest he had become a member of the Metropolitan Police's CO19 specialist firearms unit in 1996, after a lengthy selection and training process, including courses in abseiling into buildings and using shotguns. "I am responsible for the death of an innocent man and that's something I've got to live with for the rest of my life."
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?" 'Very short briefing'
C12 replied: "That is correct." Earlier, the officer had revealed he had been given few details about Osman on the morning of the shooting.
"It was a very short briefing - a pen sketch idea of what we were doing and where we had to go immediately," he told the inquest.
The officer also said he had felt "frustration" at the "radio silence" in the moments before the shooting and that before then the radio signal had been "awful".
The inquest was adjourned until Monday, when C12 will be cross-examined by the de Menezes family's barrister, Michael Mansfield QC.