Police 'did not identify Menezes'

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A police surveillance team did not identify Jean Charles de Menezes as a suspect before he was shot dead by marksmen, an officer has said.

Mr de Menezes was killed in 2005 in south London by police who mistook him for a failed 21 July suicide bomber.

A surveillance officer told the inquest he had tried but failed to get clear sight of the young man's face.

He could not, and said that when asked, his team leader had told the police control room only: "I think it's him".

The officer told the inquest, at the Oval cricket ground, that he had failed several times to get clear sight of Mr de Menezes's face before he boarded a bus to Stockwell underground station, where he was subsequently shot.

There was no identification from grey team at any time Surveillance officer 'Ken' Despite this, his team leader had been asked by the police control room to give a "percentage" of how likely it was that the man they were tailing was the suspect police believed him to be.

The surveillance officer, referred to as Ken, told the inquest: "I believe he said that it was impossible to do that but 'for what it's worth I think it's him'."

Ken said that at Stockwell Tube station he again tried to see Mr de Menezes's face, and got a view of the man's right-hand side for one or two seconds.

He followed the 27-year-old into the Tube station, down the escalators and onto a train.

He described how he indicated Mr de Menezes to a team of armed officers who then entered the train.

But he told the jury: "There was no identification from grey team (the surveillance team) at any time."

'Definitely our man?'

The inquest had previously heard from one of the officers who shot Mr de Menezes that a surveillance officer had positively identified the young man as failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman.

The officer, using the codename C2, told the court: "I heard them say 'this is definitely our man'."

Has your account been influenced by the fact that you more or less ushered firearms officers towards a target who turned out to be innocent? Michael Mansfield QC On Friday Michael Mansfield QC, who is representing Mr de Menezes's family, asked Ken: "Was anything said to the effect of 'this is definitely our man'?"

"No sir," said the officer.

Ken also told the court the armed officers shouted a warning of "armed police" loud enough for Mr de Menezes to have heard before he was shot.

On Thursday, commuters in the carriage had told the inquest they had heard no warning before the shots were fired.

Ken agreed with Mr Mansfield that the man he had been following was not nervous or twitchy, and nor was he wearing unusual clothing.

But he did say Mr de Menezes had appeared to leap from his seat in an "unusual manner" as the armed officers closed in on him.

He said the Brazilian had been holding his hands out in front of him at the level of his torso, instead of using his arms to push out of the seat.

Mr Mansfield asked if Ken's account of events had been coloured by the knowledge that he had "more or less ushered firearms officers towards a target who turned out to be innocent".

Ken denied this, saying: "I wrote my account as best I remembered it."

The inquest was adjourned until Monday.