BRITAIN:A successful prosecution of London's Metropolitan Police over the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes would be like putting handcuffs on detectives and would damage the fight against serious crime in the UK, a jury was told yesterday.
A trial at the Old Bailey in London heard that the attempt to prosecute police over the death of the 27-year-old Brazilian, who was shot dead in London by police marksman at the height of the anti-terrorist operation in July 2005, was based on ignorance and hindsight.
"The prosecution in this case are attempting to dictate to the police how they should do their job from a position of near ignorance," defence counsel Ronald Thwaites QC told the jury.
He added that a conviction would "inhibit their effectiveness in combating serious crime" and said the trial should be viewed as a test case. "The prosecution do not appear to understand how the police organise themselves, how they conduct major operations, or how they work." The Metropolitan Police is on trial over alleged health and safety failures leading up to Mr de Menezes's death on July 22nd, 2005.
The Brazilian electrician was shot seven times in the head in front of horrified commuters after he was mistaken for a suicide bomber following the failed attacks the previous day. The police force denies the charges.
The court heard from Cmdr John McDowell, who was in overall charge of the operation. Mr McDowell said: "Given the way circumstances unfolded, it is very difficult to find anything I would have done differently."
In the hours before his death, the officers who shot Mr de Menezes were issued with ammunition designed to kill more quickly and were told the suspect was "up for it". The leader of one of the firearms teams, codenamed "Ralph", said he had had no doubt that he or another officer "might have to shoot someone point-blank in the head".
Clare Montgomery QC, prosecuting on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive, said two surveillance teams had been posted to Mr de Menezes's flat in south London after the address was linked to Hussain Osman, one of the men who tried to bomb London's transport network the previous day. When Mr de Menezes left for work they were unable to establish whether or not he was the suspect and followed him as he boarded a bus.
But yesterday Mr Thwaites defended the police.
"The prosecution say an issue in this case was the police did not intervene in the five minutes available to them by intercepting Jean Charles de Menezes before he got on a bus at Tulse Hill. If the prosecution is right ... it would in effect remove the discretion police officers have in deciding when is the best time to act."
Mr Thwaites told the jury that police at the time were facing an unknown threat. "The prosecution is not qualified to dictate operational policy on a hypothetical basis or at all."
The hearing continues.