Cops delayed telling the truth

2005-08-23 10:11

London - London's metropolitan police waited two days to inform the family of Jean Charles de Menezes that the young Brazilian was not fleeing or behaving suspiciously when he was shot dead by armed officers in the capital's subway, police said on Monday after meeting with a Brazilian delegation.

"Mr De Menezes' family in the United Kingdom, his cousins, were briefed by police that Mr De Menezes did not run into the tube station, that he used a ticket to get through the tube station barrier - specifically that he did not vault the barrier - and that he was not wearing a padded jacket or carrying a bag," the metropolitan police said in a statement.

Deputy assistant commissioner John Yates told the visiting Brazilian delegation the family was informed on July 24, two days after 27-year-old De Menezes was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder, the statement said.

Metropolitan police commissioner Ian Blair was present for part of the meeting, it added.

Blair last week denied allegations of a cover-up after documents leaked to ITV television radically contradicted the initial version of events given by police and witnesses.

- AFP