Village had de Menezes story before British press

In the past week the British media has been saturated with coverage of leaked documents showing a significantly different account of Charles de Menezes' shooting than that given in some police briefings and leaks to the media. Yet, the previous week in Village (12-18 August) a statement we published contained many of the same revelations.

On 16 August, leaked documents to ITV broke the story in the British press that, contrary to police accounts, Charles de Menezes was unaware he was being followed; he was not wearing a large jacket that could have contained explosives, but a denim jacket; he did not jump the turnstiles at the tube station and run; he had already been restrained by a surveillance officer before being shot eight times, seven times in the head. The previous week Village 12-18 August had published the same revelations in a statement in our Letters section. It said, in regards to the police statements after the killing: "None of that was true it has since emerged. Jean was wearing a denim jacket, did not jump the barriers, was not considered a suspect by the police and was never confronted or warned to stop. Jean was chased, thrown to the ground and murdered with seven shots to the head." The piece was written by Gustavo Barbosa, who is part of a group hoping to set up an Irish website dedicated to victims of "shoot- to-kill" policies in Britain, starting with Charles de Menezes. Gustavo says he got the information countering the police statements from various websites and Irish newspapers.

The leaked documents to ITV came from police officers and eyewitness accounts given to the Independents Police Complaints Commission (IPPC), which is conducting an investigation into the shooting. They also revealed that from the outset. the surveillance of de Menezes was questionable. A surveillance officer watching the house as de Menezes left was unable to properly identify him as he was "relieving himself". He then asked another officer to take a look. This was the beginning of the surveillance that led to his death.

Subsequent to the shooting of Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station on 22 July, police briefings suggested that de Menezes had fled, vaulting a ticket barrier, when challenged by the police at the station. It was reported in the media that he was wearing a thick jacket. In the revelations it also emerged that Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, wrote to the Home Office on the morning of de Menezes' death to request that the terrorist investigation took precedence over any IPCC investigation.

Emma Browne