BBC : Menezes family start legal battle

Menezes family start legal battle

BBC News | October 16, 2006

The decision not to charge individual police officers over the fatal shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes is to be challenged in the High Court.

The Menezes family want a judicial review of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decision that there was not enough evidence for a murder trial.

The 27-year-old was shot after police mistook him for a suicide bomber on a London Tube train on 22 July last year.

The Metropolitan Police Service faces a trial under health and safety laws.

The force is accused of failing to provide for the health, safety and welfare of Mr Menezes on the day he was shot seven times in the head at Stockwell Tube station.

Menezes family lawyers said the handling of the Menezes case by the authorities had amounted to a breach of his family's human rights.

Harriet Wistrich, one of their lawyers, accused the CPS of "usurping the role of the jury in its assessment of the evidence" in its decision not to prosecute any individuals.

The lawyers will also challenge the adjournment of the inquest into Mr Menezes's death and the failure of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to publish its report on the shooting.

Ms Wistrich said all of the factors combined to give "the appearance of a stitch-up".

Mr Menezes's cousin, Alex Pereira accused the CPS and IPCC of "the ultimate cover-up".

"It is clear they want to hide the truth from everybody," he said.

"This judicial review is about making sure that someone is held responsible."

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.