This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/7050858.stm

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Menezes control room 'not noisy' Menezes control room 'not noisy'
(about 4 hours later)
The officer in charge of Scotland Yard operations on the day Jean Charles de Menezes was shot has denied claims the control room was "noisy and chaotic".The officer in charge of Scotland Yard operations on the day Jean Charles de Menezes was shot has denied claims the control room was "noisy and chaotic".
Deputy assistant commissioner Cressida Dick was responding at the Old Bailey to claims that officers had to shout to make themselves heard in room 1600. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick was responding at the Old Bailey to claims that officers had to shout to make themselves heard in room 1600.
Mr de Menezes, 27, was killed after being wrongly identified as one of the 21 July London bomb plotters.Mr de Menezes, 27, was killed after being wrongly identified as one of the 21 July London bomb plotters.
The Metropolitan Police denies breaking health and safety laws. The Metropolitan Police denies breaking health and safety laws on 22 July 2005.
Brazilian Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot seven times in the head on a train at Stockwell Tube station on 22 July 2005, after being wrongly identified as 21 July bomb plotter Hussain Osman. Brazilian Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot seven times in the head on a train at London's Stockwell Tube station on that day, after being wrongly identified as 21 July bomb plotter Hussain Osman.
Deputy assistant commissioner Dick was the commander in charge of overall operations on that day. She has since been promoted. DAC Dick, who has since been promoted, was the commander in charge of overall operations on that day.
'Calm and quiet'
Clare Montgomery QC, prosecuting, has told the jury that the "noisy" atmosphere in the 16th floor nerve centre "could not have helped the decision-making process".Clare Montgomery QC, prosecuting, has told the jury that the "noisy" atmosphere in the 16th floor nerve centre "could not have helped the decision-making process".
Deputy assistant commissioner Dick, speaking in court on the first day of the Met's defence case, said: "I would not describe it ever as noisy. The early part of the day, it was really very calm and quiet Cressida DickDeputy assistant commissioner
DAC Dick, speaking in court on the first day of the Met's defence case, said: "I would not describe it ever as noisy.
"The early part of the day, it was really very calm and quiet.""The early part of the day, it was really very calm and quiet."
She said that later there were people in the room who were not "absolutely required".She said that later there were people in the room who were not "absolutely required".
She said this had made the room hotter and "more difficult for people to move around", and so she had asked them to leave.She said this had made the room hotter and "more difficult for people to move around", and so she had asked them to leave.
But this was after the shooting of Mr de Menezes, she added.But this was after the shooting of Mr de Menezes, she added.
DAC Dick said she had been paged at 0100 on the morning of the shooting - the day after the 21 July attempted bombings - to say things had been "moving quickly during the night" and that she should be at work at 0700.
She told the Old Bailey she had arrived at Scotland Yard at 0530 and had read police documents on potential suicide bombers and firearms before going to the control room at 0700.
Trap fears
She said that, in the control room, she was told a surveillance team had already been deployed to Scotia Road, south London, an address linked to Osman.
Mr de Menezes was later followed by police, who believed him to be Osman, from a block of flats on Scotia Road to Stockwell Tube station, where he was shot dead.
DAC Dick told the court that officers were worried the address had been "booby-trapped" as an address in Spain had been after the 2004 Madrid bombings.
"The particular example we talked about was the Madrid bombings in 2004 when, sadly at the end of the police operation, a number of people died including one police officer," she said.
They were also concerned the address could be a bomb factory with dangerous explosives inside, she added.
She said that, because of the speed of developments, she had been unable to give face-to-face briefings to more senior commanders.