Special Branch 'altered official log' to cover up fatal Menezes blunder

By Maxine Frith
Published: 30 January 2006

The family of Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent Brazilian shot dead by police at Stockwell Tube station last July, have demanded a public inquiry into his death following allegations that Special Branch officers changed vital evidence in an attempt to cover up fatal blunders in the case.

An undercover surveillance team altered an official log to hide the fact that they had wrongly identified Mr Menezes as a suspect in the failed July 21 bombings in London, according to a leaked copy of the official report into the shooting.

Mr Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician, was shot seven times in the head. Armed officers mistakenly believed he was a suicide bomber as he boarded a Tube train on 22 July.

Earlier this month a confidential report into the case by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, which will decide whether any of the officers should face criminal charges. >>>cont