DE MENEZES: NO CHARGES

by RAY FLEMING
IT is easy to understand the anguish of his family that, one year after Jean Charles de Menezes was killed by armed policemen at Stockwell underground station, the Crown Prosecution Service has decided that no one involved in his killing will be charged. The reason given by the Service is that it would be impossible to prove in court than any of the officers who fired the shots had been culpable to the degree necessary for a criminal offence. The police officers concerned fired the fatal shots “because they believed that Mr de Menezes had been identified to them as a suicide bomber and that, if they did not shoot him, he would blow up the train, killing many people.” According to a senior Crown Prosecution Service lawyer, any successful prosecution would have to prove that the officers did not “honestly and genuinely” hold those beliefs, something that was impossible. No doubt the legal reasoning is sound, if somewhat obscure. However, it leaves open the question that surely someone must have been ultimately responsible? Who identified de Menezes to the policemen who killed him? Unfortunately this and other questions cannot be answered until the report of the Independent Police Complainst Commission is made available, which will not be until after all possible legal proceedings are over. Meanwhile lesser charges against the Metropolitan Police will follow under Health and Safety regulations, an outcome that will not satisfy those who think justice is far from being done.