Family of Brazilian killed by police visit London station

After an emotional visit to the spot where Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police marksmen, his parents said that the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, must take the blame for failing in his duty to protect their son.

Maria Otone de Menezes said her 27-year-old son, an electrician, had been "killed like a mad dog" when he was shot by Scotland Yard officers on a train at Stockwell Underground station on 22 July in the mistaken belief he was a suicide bomber.

Accompanied by her husband, Matozinho Otone Da Silva, their other son, Giovani Da Silva, and several other family members, they had recreated their son's last journey, from his home in Tulse Hill to the station in south London.

There the family, who appeared bewildered by the media attention, laid a bunch of white chrysanthemums.

Scotland Yard is paying for the two-week trip for the family, who had never left Brazil before.

Holding each other tightly and sobbing, the family paused to look at the other flowers, messages and tributes at the makeshift shrine. Mrs Menezes, overcome with emotion, turned to the media and public thronging around them and cried: "Look what they have done to my son."

The party then spent more than 20 minutes inside the station with London Underground staff; there were no police allowed inside and the station was closed to the public.

Mrs Menezes later told a press conference: "When the police took his life, they took my life as well. I am in tatters. A human being should not be killed like a mad dog. Those who killed my son, as much as the police chief who is responsible for the whole team, should be punished. Only God knows the pain and suffering I am going through. My hard working son's life was taken so innocently."

Speaking through an interpreter, Mrs Menezes, who has said Sir Ian "must resign", said she believed the police had not given the family the full facts.

"The police think they have told us everything, but in my opinion there is a lot they haven't told me. I am sure Ian Blair has acted very wrongly and the shoot-to-kill policy is wrong."

She added: "Sir Ian Blair would have resigned if Jean Charles was from a richer country."

Giovani Da Silva said the family did not want to meet Sir Ian, even though the commissioner had offered to see them.

He said: "We feel we are not going to meet Sir Ian Blair. What we have seen today is enough and we don't want to meet him."

Gareth Peirce, the family's lawyer, said their main reason for coming to Britain was to investigate the events surrounding Jean Charles's death and not to seek compensation, although that was a route open to them.

She said: "They expect justice and by justice they expect those who may have committed crimes to be investigated and prosecuted and tried, if appropriate."

A number of questions have arisen about the nature of the police operation which led to the shooting, including the failure to apprehend him outside the station, the decision to shoot despite the fact that he was already physically restrained, and the length of time it took for Scotland Yard's senior command to realise the mistake.

Arriving at the Underground station yesterday, the family, accompanied by Bob Crow, the leader of the RMT union and their lawyers, had appeared overwhelmed by the large gathering of the media and the public outside.

After visiting the small shrine, they passed through the same ticket barriers and used the same escalator as Jean Charles did on his final journey.

They discussed heatedly among themselves the issue of CCTV cameras and whether Jean Charles's death and the circumstances around it were captured on film. They also visited the station control room.

Giovani Da Silva said that although the police had said some of the cameras had not worked, they did not believe the police.

At the spot on the platform where Jean Charles was shot seven times in the head on a train, his parents stood for a few moments, their faces distraught. Giovani Da Silva said: "I think this is the worst time in the family's life."

Today, the family will meet members of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is conducting the investigation into the shooting. Its report is due by Christmas.

- INDEPENDENT