THERE will always be doubts in the minds of Jean Charles de Menezes’ relatives about why there is no CCTV evidence of when armed police fired seven bullets into his head.
This is because of the delay between the July 22, 2005, killing of Jean Charles and the Independent Police Complaints Commission beginning their investigation during which vital CCTV evidence disappeared.
That was the message from a press conference yesterday by his family after the publication of ‘Stockwell 1’, the report of the IPCC that led to the ‘Health and Safety’ trial of the Metropolitan Police.
The report said that on the tube carriage at Stockwell station, where Jean Charles was brutally killed: ‘It may be of significance that none of the 17 passengers in the carriage recall hearing a challenge of “armed police’’.’
Reading out a statement on behalf of the family of Jean Charles, his cousin Vivian Figueiredo said: ‘As a family we are relieved that this report has finally been made public.
‘It has been an emotional and difficult report for us to read, especially the sections that described the police officers who shot Jean covered in his blood.
‘It reminds us of how our loved one came to die, in such a brutal and violent way.
‘Although we welcome the report we sadly are no closer to getting justice.
‘We now have two very long reports and a criminal trial where the jury found the police guilty but still no-one has been held responsible for shooting Jean seven times in the head and then lying to us and the public about it.
‘We demand action be taken to hold police officers to account.’
She added: ‘On the issue of Ian Blair, we maintain that his position is untenable but we also believe that whether he goes or not will not mean that justice for Jean’s death will have been achieved.
‘Until all those directly involved in Jean’s death have been held accountable in a court of law we will not rest.
‘We still believe there are wider issues of why Jean was killed, why he was shot seven times in the head and why a shoot to kill policy was used.
‘We now want the Ministry of Justice to promise us an inquest as soon as possible and ensure it will have the widest remit to allow us to examine all the issues surrounding Jean’s death.’
Chairing the family’s press conference, Yasmin Khan, from the Justice 4 Jean campaign, said: ‘This report is yet another damning indictment of the Metropolitan Police.’
Solicitor Hariet Wistrich said Jean’s family remained ‘determined to uncover the whole truth surrounding his tragic shooting’ and ‘to hold individual officers responsible’.
