Menezes Police Await CPS Verdict

The Crown Prosecution Service is to reveal whether any police officers will be charged over the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes on the Tube. The 27-year-old Brazilian was shot when police mistook him for a suicide bomber in south London on 22 July last year. Independent investigators demanded charges against three police officers. But it has been widely reported that no officers will be prosecuted, although the Metropolitan Police may be punished for breaching health and safety laws.

CPS lawyers, who are expected to make their announcement at 1200 BST on Monday, received the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report in January.

It was very critical of the surveillance operation and control room staff. A series of organisational failings and communication difficulties resulted in two experienced marksmen shooting dead an innocent man, it said. The report also listed a number of possible offences, including manslaughter, which may have been committed.

BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said that in order to bring criminal proceedings, the CPS has had to decide whether there’s a realistic prospect of any of the allegations resulting in a conviction.

It is a high threshold which those close to the evidence believe has probably not been crossed, he said, but it was more likely the Metropolitan Police would be prosecuted under health and safety laws.

The Met has a duty to ensure that their operations do not put the public at risk, “as far as is reasonably practicable”.

Harriet Wistrich, solicitor for the de Menezes family, previously said that the family was likely to be “very unhappy” if no officer was prosecuted.