Delay for police's Menezes trial

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The Metropolitan Police trial over health and safety allegations regarding the death of Jean Charles de Menezes will be heard in October next year.

Mr Menezes, 27, a Brazilian electrician, was shot by anti-terrorist officers who mistakenly feared that he was a suicide bomber.

The force is being prosecuted under health and safety laws over alleged "operational errors".

The force is due to apply for the charges to be dismissed next year.

The alleged errors said to be committed by the Met involve planning and communication.

'Numerous allegations'

Mr Menezes was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder at Stockwell station in south London, a day after the failed 21 July 2005 bomb attacks on the Underground.

Keith Morton, representing the police, told a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey the case "has implications for the police, not only in London but in the UK".

He said: "The allegations against the defendant are numerous and will not be restricted to the examination of events over the course of a few hours on one day in July last year."

To set an trial date before autumn next year for a case of "this magnitude" would be unrealistic, he added.