Latest news with #JeanCharles'
Daily Mirror
22-06-2025
- Daily Mirror
I killed an innocent man over mistaken identity - I'd do anything to change it
The firearms officer, codenamed C2, killed the innocent Brazilian with six bullets after his colleague initially opened fire, after the pair had followed the 27-year-old electrician into Stockwell tube station wrongly believing he was a would-be suicide bomber One of the two marksmen who shot Jean Charles de Menezes has spoken about the tragedy for the first time – 20 years after one of Britain's worst police blunders. In an emotional admission he accepted responsibility for the innocent Brazilian's death and apologised. He said: 'I would say to Jean Charles' family that I am sorry, that I and another officer were put in a position where we killed your son. I would do anything to roll back time, to have a different set of circumstances where that didn't happen.' Jean Charles, 27, died after he was pinned down and shot in the head by two officers who mistook him for a suicide bomber in a tube train at Stockwell station, South London, on July 22, 2005. The incident followed heightened tensions a fortnight after 7/7 when 52 people were killed, and a day after would-be suicide bombers tried to detonate more devices on London's transport network. Speaking in a four-part Netflix documentary released next week, the policeman, codenamed C2, remembered: 'By the time I'd got home I was aware there was speculation regarding the identity of the person I had killed. I didn't get any sleep, and I still had massive tinnitus, a very, very loud ringing in my ears. 'The next day I caught the tube back to work and I was called into the chief superintendent's office. He told me that the man I shot was completely innocent. I can't describe how I felt, the worst feeling ever, I killed an innocent man and I now know who that man is.' C2 killed the electrician with six bullets after his colleague initially opened fire. He said: 'I am responsible, and I accept responsibility. As a firearms officer ultimately the decision to use force is yours. But why were we in that position? Those people in command put me in that position, they also have to answer.' His apology is of little comfort to the de Menezes family. Among those are Jean Charles' cousins, Patricia Da Silva Armani and Vivian Figueiredo, who he was sharing a flat with at the time. Speaking to us, Patricia, 51, remembers the last time she saw her younger cousin alive, two days before he died. READ MORE: 'There are three of us in our marriage - me, Gem and the 7/7 bomber' She said: 'I'd just got back from work and he was getting ready to go out. We had coffee together, and he told me about a new job he was going to start on the Friday, putting in electrical installations in a building. He'd been washing dishes in a restaurant until then. 'He was really excited about it, the happiest I'd ever seen him. It was well paid and he felt his life was finally on the way up. 'He said goodbye and went to leave but for some reason when he got to the door he turned round and came and gave me a big hug and a kiss. 'We were close but that took me by surprise. I said to him, 'Oh, how delicious!' Now off you go to work' and he went. The next time I saw Jean was at the morgue.' Jean was on his way to the new job on the Friday morning when police started following him, believing he was one of the four men who had failed to detonate bombs on the capital's transport system the day before. One of the terrorists, Hussein Osman, lived in the same building as the three cousins. Patricia and Vivian heard about the shooting on the news, and later that the suspect had been an innocent Brazilian, but they never imagined it was Jean. Vivian, 42, woke up the following morning, still unaware. 'Everything was so silent at the house. I knocked on Jean's bedroom door, no answer,' she said. 'So I slowly opened the door. The bed was made, everything was neat and tidy. I just thought, 'Jean probably didn't come home last night'.' But then there was a knock at the door from two of Jean's friends who police had visited in the early hours. 'They told them he was suspected of terrorism and had been arrested,' she recalled. 'I was shocked. But I also had hope. It was just a matter of going to the police to clarify everything.' Vivian and Patricia were taken to the police station, where two other cousins, Alex Alves Pereira and Alessandro Pereira, were already waiting. Patricia remembered: 'Alex was really agitated. He kept saying, 'They f***ed up, they f***ed up'. He'd already joined the dots, I thought he had been arrested. They took us to a room and sat us down around a table. 'My English wasn't great and I didn't understand a lot of what they were saying. I only understood the last part – 'He is dead'. Still, I didn't think I'd heard right. 'I turned round to one of the others and he took my hand. His hand was freezing. He told me Jean was the Brazilian who had been shot dead. I went into total despair. Everyone was crying and screaming.' They were then taken to the morgue to identify Jean Charles' body. Patricia recalled: 'He was already arranged and dressed up. That's when I became ill and fainted. The next thing I remember is me sitting on a sofa with a policewoman trying to calm me down. 'I later heard that Alex and Vivian barged into the room and grabbed Jean's body. So it was very tense.' The family pursued fruitless legal action and no officers were charged, although the Met was found guilty of health and safety failures. Patricia added: 'For months I lived in shock. I wasn't able to hear a police siren without shaking. I'd get scared whenever I see policemen on the street. Even today when I'm on the tube, I'm constantly thinking about how I should escape if anything happens. 'For the first years, I thought about Jean every day and I would cry every day. This year has brought back a lot of the trauma and painful memories.' Vivian, now married with a daughter, Luna, says: 'I was just 22 and had been in the UK three months when Jean died. I was just a countryside girl and he was my safety, so when I lost him my ground went from under me. My whole world fell apart. 'I didn't really have time to grieve because we had to deal with all the bureaucracy, the polemic and the injustice. I don't know how I survived.' She says she now wants to remember the way Jean lived his life, not the way he died. 'He was such a happy person, an extrovert who would laugh and joke and got on with everyone. He was a dreamer. He wanted to make the best use of his life but above all he wanted to help people and make his family proud. 'I remember him all the time but especially at times when I wished he were still here, like when my daughter was born. He still appears in my dreams, the Jean we loved and knew so well. He'll never be forgotten.'
Scottish Sun
26-04-2025
- Scottish Sun
I covered the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and saw horrific cop blunders… you MUST watch harrowing Disney drama
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A CLIMATE of fear and loathing gripped London early on 22 July 2005 - and nowhere more so than at New Scotland Yard. Four would-be suicide bombers - who had tried to blow up the capital's public transport system on the previous day - remained at large and panic was palpable across the city. 12 Jean Charles de Menezes was misidentified and fatally shot two weeks after the 2005 7/7 attacks Credit: Collect 12 Jean Charles was seen on camera walking into Stockwell tube station before he was fatally shot Credit: Handout 12 CCTV footage shows Jean Charles being followed into the station Credit: Handout 12 The fatal shooting was the result of a disastrous surveillance operation by the Met Credit: PA:Press Association And there was genuine loathing for the 'b*****ds' who came within a whisker of emulating the terrorists who killed 52 innocent people on three tube trains and a bus a fortnight earlier. Just after 10am that morning, the mood among the Metropolitan Police changed to one of jubilation when a man believed at the time to be one of the 21/7 bombers on the run, was shot dead. Two firearms officers put seven bullets in the suspect's head on a northbound Victoria Line train at Stockwell tube station. By the end of the day, however, the atmosphere in the corridors at New Scotland Yard had turned positively funereal as it dawned on everyone but Commissioner Sir Ian Blair that an innocent man had become the 53rd victim of the July 2005 attacks. Only this time, it was the Met who was responsible for the killing after mistaking 27-year-old Brazilian electrician Jean Charles De Menezes for one of the bombers. The fatal shooting was the result of a disastrous surveillance operation and was followed by an equally shambolic damage limitation exercise by the Met. A haunting new four-part television drama - Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes - is being streamed on Disney+ next week. The recreation of Jean Charles' shooting, and the flawed surveillance operation preceding it, are brought to the screen in harrowing detail. Jean Charles' mother, Maria De Menezes, says everyone should watch the dramatisation of her son's death, despite feeling ill for three days after watching the show. I covered the story of Jean Charles' death on the day and attended subsequent legal hearings and inquiries over the next seven years for The Sun, and could not agree more with Mrs De Menezes. The first two episodes of the programme left me numb with shock and sadness. Haunted cop who shot innocent Jean Charles de Menezes says 'everything told me I was going to die' A million words on paper could not capture the humanity of the tragedy so powerfully encapsulated in the hour-long programmes by creator Jeff Pope. The utter chaos of the police surveillance operation is illuminated in jaw-dropping detail, along with the crass and misleading initial attempts by the Met to minimise their mistake. When Jean Charles was executed by the state, I was on the tube heading to New Scotland Yard where I planned to 'plot up' with other crime reporters in one of the nearby coffee bars at St James' Park station. There was a delay on the Victoria Line and by the time I arrived my phone was red hot with messages from the newsdesk about an incident at Stockwell underground station. Crime reporters from the national media had spent most of the past two weeks loitering around New Scotland Yard, in the hope of unofficial updates from contacts and being in position for official briefings on the investigation into the 7/7 attacks. The programme starts with the 7/7 attacks before moving to a dingy flat at in North London, where the 21/7 gang were preparing their bombs under the direction of Muktar Said Ibrahim. 12 Jean Charles's mother, Maria De Menezes (pictured in 2005 with his dad Matozinhos Otone Da Silva), says everyone should see the dramatisation of her son's death, despite feeling ill for three days after watching the show Credit: PA 12 The utter chaos of the police surveillance operation is illuminated in jaw-dropping detail in the Disney series, where Jean Charles is played by Brazilian actor Edison Alcaide Credit: AP 12 The recreation of Jean Charles' shooting are brought to the screen in harrowing detail Credit: Stefania Rosini/Disney+ 12 Emily Mortimer plays Cressida Dick who was desperate for CO19 officers to carry out the stop Credit: Des Willie Life was beginning to return to normal on 21 July when a flood of calls came into The Sun's newsroom about a series of explosions on the tube network and a bus between 11.30am and noon. Mercifully, the four bombs - a fifth had been discarded by another bomber who lost his nerve - had not detonated the main 'Mother of Satan' TATP explosives. The programme focuses on Jean Charles' own reaction to the terrorist incidents who is brought to life by Brazilian actor Edison Alcaide, in his first major role. Jean Charles is shown to be a hard-working young man carrying out jobs on sites by day and working at a restaurant on the night before his death. Because of his late finish, Jean Charles was not due to start his day job until later but with fateful timing, his boss asked him to start work. Stockwell shooting timeline 2005 July 7 - four suicide bombers kill 52 people in London July 21 - four terrorists fail to detonate explosives in London July 22 - 9.33am surveillance officers see Jean Charles de Menezes leave a block of flats in South London, thinking he is terror suspect Hussen Osman 10.01am - Jean Charles enters Stockwell tube station 10.04am - 'State Red' declared meaning firearms officer ordered to stop the suspect 10.05am - Armed officers confront and shoot Jean Charles 4pm - Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair tells a press conference the Stockwell shooting was "directly linked" to the attempted bombing. 5pm - The police admit the victim was not linked to terrorism. July 27 - Four of Jean Charles's cousins, pictured above, demand an end to the "shoot-to-kill" policy. August 16 - ITV reveals details of Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation that contradict the Met's version of events. 2006 July 15 - It is revealed that no one will be charged with the murder or manslaughter of Jean Charles. 2007 November 1 - The Met Police Commissioner and his office were found guilty of health and safety offences and fined £175,000. 2008 December 12 - A coroner's inquest records an open verdict on Jean Charles's death. 2009 November 23 - The Met agrees to pay £100,000 in compensation to Jean Charles's family. The small block where he lived was being kept under surveillance that morning in what police then believed was their first major breakthrough in tracking down the 21/7 bombers. A gym card belonging to one of the terrorists, Hussein Osman, was found in a rucksack containing his bomb at Shepherd's Bush tube station, along with a cut-up wedding photograph. In another unfortunate coincidence, Osman had not even provided his real address to the gym but had given one belonging to an associate at the Scotia Road block, where Jean Charles lived in another flat. SHOOT-TO-KILL POLICY A lone soldier was sitting in a van outside Scotia Road and watching the communal front door in case Osman showed himself. The soldier was urinating into a bottle and missed Jean Charles as he came through the door at 9.33am. From that moment on, the operation never recovered. Firearms officers were supposed to have been there at the time but were running late after being briefed at their base that Operation Kratos - a shoot-to-kill policy designed to thwart suicide bombers - was engaged. Jean Charles was dark-haired and had olive skin, while Hussein was North African, but Met surveillance officers waiting near the flats were unable to identify or rule him out as the bomber. The programme shows the countdown to disaster continuing as Jean Charles boards a bus - where he could have been stopped, and gets off at Brixton tube station. The station was shut because of a security alert and Jean Charles then caught another bus to Stockwell. The surveillance officers kept pace with Jean Charles but were unable to get a face-on view over concerns it might spook him and he could potentially trigger a bomb. The programme captures the confusion of the surveillance perfectly. Jean Charles is described by his watchers as 'very, very jumpy' while one the SO12 officers says: 'For what it's worth, I think it's him.' Yet another officer definitively says: 'It's not him.' But frustratingly, that message was never passed on by the surveillance team leader to control. Commander Dick - later to become Met commissioner and be awarded a damehood - was desperate for CO19 officers to carry out the stop. She asks the tailing officers what percentage they would give for a positive identification of the bomber. To their credit, the surveillance officers decline to reply and Dick then decides to wait until the suspect has alighted from the bus before stopping him. 12 52 people were killed in London in the 7/7 attacks Credit: AFP 12 Tributes left outside Stockwell station after Menezes' killing in 2005 Credit: PA:Press Association 12 To the anger of Jean Charles' family and supporters, none of the officers involved ever faced disciplinary action Credit: AP:Associated Press 12 There won't be too many days when those officers don't think of Jean Charles Credit: Enterprise News and Pictures And that's what Jean Charles did outside Stockwell tube station before using his ticket to go through a barrier. Jean Charles is shown heading down the escalator as Dick tells the team: 'He can't be allowed to get on the train.' But Jean Charles does get on the train and surveillance officers follow him, one of them sidling up in the seat next to him. Meanwhile, the CO19 firearms officers wearing body armour have finally arrived at the station and are seen vaulting barriers with guns drawn and running down the escalator. Watching the events unfold almost 20 years later, it is still shocking and defies logic when you realise what is about to happen. HORROR UNFOLDED The time is 10.06am and without any warning the surveillance officer suddenly pulls Jean Charles down and the gun cops - code-named Charlie 1 and 2 - pump seven shots into his head and one in his shoulder. It is the most shocking thing I have ever witnessed on a television screen but the real power of the programme is in its compassion for Jean Charles and his family. Some senior officers knew that a wallet and mobile phone had been found suggesting the man they had shot was a Brazilian national named Jean Charles De Menezes. But Commissioner Sir Ian Blair told us at a press conference held later that afternoon that the shooting is 'directly linked to the ongoing and expanding anti-terrorist operation." Inaccurately, he added: 'As I understand the situation, the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions.' Watching the events unfold almost 20 years later, it is still shocking and defies logic to realise what is about to happen. The Met would go on to compound the errors of the operation, notably releasing computer graphics to show the face of Jean Charles morphing into the darker-skinned one of bomber Osman. They also released mistaken eyewitness accounts wrongly claiming that Jean Charles was wearing bulky clothing, had behaved suspiciously and had vaulted the barriers at Stockwell station. Ultimately, the London force would salvage its reputation by doing what it does best - catching baddies. Within a week of Jean Charles' shooting, they had rounded up the 21/7 gang. Their leader Ibrahim Muktar Said was captured with Ramzi Mohamed when the SAS stormed a flat in North Kensington. The Met would later be fined £175,000 for health and safety failings in the bungled operation which led to Jean Charles' death. However, to the anger of Jean Charles' family and supporters, none of the officers involved ever faced disciplinary action. There won't be too many days when those officers don't think of Jean Charles. But they owe it to Mrs De Menezes to watch the new drama, no matter how painful the memories may be.
The Sun
26-04-2025
- The Sun
I covered the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and saw horrific cop blunders… you MUST watch harrowing Disney drama
A CLIMATE of fear and loathing gripped London early on 22 July 2005 - and nowhere more so than at New Scotland Yard. Four would-be suicide bombers - who had tried to blow up the capital's public transport system on the previous day - remained at large and panic was palpable across the city. 12 12 12 And there was genuine loathing for the 'b*****ds' who came within a whisker of emulating the terrorists who killed 52 innocent people on three tube trains and a bus a fortnight earlier. Just after 10am that morning, the mood among the Metropolitan Police changed to one of jubilation when a man believed at the time to be one of the 21/7 bombers on the run, was shot dead. Two firearms officers put seven bullets in the suspect's head on a northbound Victoria Line train at Stockwell tube station. By the end of the day, however, the atmosphere in the corridors at New Scotland Yard had turned positively funereal as it dawned on everyone but Commissioner Sir Ian Blair that an innocent man had become the 53rd victim of the July 2005 attacks. Only this time, it was the Met who was responsible for the killing after mistaking 27-year-old Brazilian electrician Jean Charles De Menezes for one of the bombers. The fatal shooting was the result of a disastrous surveillance operation and was followed by an equally shambolic damage limitation exercise by the Met. A haunting new four-part television drama - Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes - is being streamed on Disney+ next week. The recreation of Jean Charles' shooting, and the flawed surveillance operation preceding it, are brought to the screen in harrowing detail. Jean Charles' mother, Maria De Menezes, says everyone should watch the dramatisation of her son's death, despite feeling ill for three days after watching the show. I covered the story of Jean Charles' death on the day and attended subsequent legal hearings and inquiries over the next seven years for The Sun, and could not agree more with Mrs De Menezes. The first two episodes of the programme left me numb with shock and sadness. A million words on paper could not capture the humanity of the tragedy so powerfully encapsulated in the hour-long programmes by creator Jeff Pope. The utter chaos of the police surveillance operation is illuminated in jaw-dropping detail, along with the crass and misleading initial attempts by the Met to minimise their mistake. When Jean Charles was executed by the state, I was on the tube heading to New Scotland Yard where I planned to 'plot up' with other crime reporters in one of the nearby coffee bars at St James' Park station. There was a delay on the Victoria Line and by the time I arrived my phone was red hot with messages from the newsdesk about an incident at Stockwell underground station. Crime reporters from the national media had spent most of the past two weeks loitering around New Scotland Yard, in the hope of unofficial updates from contacts and being in position for official briefings on the investigation into the 7/7 attacks. The programme starts with the 7/7 attacks before moving to a dingy flat at in North London, where the 21/7 gang were preparing their bombs under the direction of Muktar Said Ibrahim. 12 12 Life was beginning to return to normal on 21 July when a flood of calls came into The Sun's newsroom about a series of explosions on the tube network and a bus between 11.30am and noon. Mercifully, the four bombs - a fifth had been discarded by another bomber who lost his nerve - had not detonated the main 'Mother of Satan' TATP explosives. The programme focuses on Jean Charles' own reaction to the terrorist incidents who is brought to life by Brazilian actor Edison Alcaide, in his first major role. Jean Charles is shown to be a hard-working young man carrying out jobs on sites by day and working at a restaurant on the night before his death. Because of his late finish, Jean Charles was not due to start his day job until later but with fateful timing, his boss asked him to start work. Stockwell shooting timeline 2005 July 7 - four suicide bombers kill 52 people in London July 21 - four terrorists fail to detonate explosives in London July 22 - 9.33am surveillance officers see Jean Charles de Menezes leave a block of flats in South London, thinking he is terror suspect Hussen Osman 10.01am - Jean Charles enters Stockwell tube station 10.04am - 'State Red' declared meaning firearms officer ordered to stop the suspect 10.05am - Armed officers confront and shoot Jean Charles 4pm - Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair tells a press conference the Stockwell shooting was "directly linked" to the attempted bombing. 5pm - The police admit the victim was not linked to terrorism. July 27 - Four of Jean Charles's cousins, pictured above, demand an end to the "shoot-to-kill" policy. August 16 - ITV reveals details of Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation that contradict the Met's version of events. 2006 July 15 - It is revealed that no one will be charged with the murder or manslaughter of Jean Charles. 2007 November 1 - The Met Police Commissioner and his office were found guilty of health and safety offences and fined £175,000. 2008 December 12 - A coroner's inquest records an open verdict on Jean Charles's death. 2009 November 23 - The Met agrees to pay £100,000 in compensation to Jean Charles's family. The small block where he lived was being kept under surveillance that morning in what police then believed was their first major breakthrough in tracking down the 21/7 bombers. A gym card belonging to one of the terrorists, Hussein Osman, was found in a rucksack containing his bomb at Shepherd's Bush tube station, along with a cut-up wedding photograph. In another unfortunate coincidence, Osman had not even provided his real address to the gym but had given one belonging to an associate at the Scotia Road block, where Jean Charles lived in another flat. SHOOT-TO-KILL POLICY A lone soldier was sitting in a van outside Scotia Road and watching the communal front door in case Osman showed himself. The soldier was urinating into a bottle and missed Jean Charles as he came through the door at 9.33am. From that moment on, the operation never recovered. Firearms officers were supposed to have been there at the time but were running late after being briefed at their base that Operation Kratos - a shoot-to-kill policy designed to thwart suicide bombers - was engaged. Jean Charles was dark-haired and had olive skin, while Hussein was North African, but Met surveillance officers waiting near the flats were unable to identify or rule him out as the bomber. The programme shows the countdown to disaster continuing as Jean Charles boards a bus - where he could have been stopped, and gets off at Brixton tube station. The station was shut because of a security alert and Jean Charles then caught another bus to Stockwell. The surveillance officers kept pace with Jean Charles but were unable to get a face-on view over concerns it might spook him and he could potentially trigger a bomb. The programme captures the confusion of the surveillance perfectly. Jean Charles is described by his watchers as 'very, very jumpy' while one the SO12 officers says: 'For what it's worth, I think it's him.' Yet another officer definitively says: 'It's not him.' But frustratingly, that message was never passed on by the surveillance team leader to control. Commander Dick - later to become Met commissioner and be awarded a damehood - was desperate for CO19 officers to carry out the stop. She asks the tailing officers what percentage they would give for a positive identification of the bomber. To their credit, the surveillance officers decline to reply and Dick then decides to wait until the suspect has alighted from the bus before stopping him. 12 12 12 And that's what Jean Charles did outside Stockwell tube station before using his ticket to go through a barrier. Jean Charles is shown heading down the escalator as Dick tells the team: 'He can't be allowed to get on the train.' But Jean Charles does get on the train and surveillance officers follow him, one of them sidling up in the seat next to him. Meanwhile, the CO19 firearms officers wearing body armour have finally arrived at the station and are seen vaulting barriers with guns drawn and running down the escalator. Watching the events unfold almost 20 years later, it is still shocking and defies logic when you realise what is about to happen. HORROR UNFOLDED The time is 10.06am and without any warning the surveillance officer suddenly pulls Jean Charles down and the gun cops - code-named Charlie 1 and 2 - pump seven shots into his head and one in his shoulder. It is the most shocking thing I have ever witnessed on a television screen but the real power of the programme is in its compassion for Jean Charles and his family. Some senior officers knew that a wallet and mobile phone had been found suggesting the man they had shot was a Brazilian national named Jean Charles De Menezes. But Commissioner Sir Ian Blair told us at a press conference held later that afternoon that the shooting is 'directly linked to the ongoing and expanding anti-terrorist operation." Inaccurately, he added: 'As I understand the situation, the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions.' Watching the events unfold almost 20 years later, it is still shocking and defies logic to realise what is about to happen. The Met would go on to compound the errors of the operation, notably releasing computer graphics to show the face of Jean Charles morphing into the darker-skinned one of bomber Osman. They also released mistaken eyewitness accounts wrongly claiming that Jean Charles was wearing bulky clothing, had behaved suspiciously and had vaulted the barriers at Stockwell station. Ultimately, the London force would salvage its reputation by doing what it does best - catching baddies. Within a week of Jean Charles' shooting, they had rounded up the 21/7 gang. Their leader Ibrahim Muktar Said was captured with Ramzi Mohamed when the SAS stormed a flat in North Kensington. The Met would later be fined £175,000 for health and safety failings in the bungled operation which led to Jean Charles' death. However, to the anger of Jean Charles' family and supporters, none of the officers involved ever faced disciplinary action. There won't be too many days when those officers don't think of Jean Charles. But they owe it to Mrs De Menezes to watch the new drama, no matter how painful the memories may be.
