Unlawful killing of de Menezes ruled out

By Kylie MacLellan

LONDON (Reuters) - The coroner overseeing the inquest into the death of Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, gunned down by police who wrongly thought he was a suicide bomber, ruled out a verdict of unlawful killing on Tuesday.

Michael Wright said the jury, which has spent about two months hearing evidence about the botched police operation which led up to de Menezes' death on July 22, 2005, could only return "open" or "lawful killing" verdicts.

"I'm not saying that nothing went wrong in a police operation which resulted in the killing of an innocent man," Wright told the jury of five men and six women as he began his summing up.

"All interested persons agree that a verdict of unlawful killing could only be left to you if you could be sure that a specific officer had committed a very serious crime: murder or manslaughter"

De Menezes was shot seven times in the head by armed officers as he boarded a train at Stockwell underground station, a day after four would-be suicide bombers tried to attack London's transport system.

He was targeted because some surveillance officers believed he might have been Hussein Osman, one of those involved in the July 21 attempted bombings.

The inquest has heard that the police operation was beset by problems of confusion and miscommunication that led firearms officers to believe they were confronting a suspect about to detonate an explosive device.

However, some eyewitnesses contradicted statements by police officers that warnings had been shouted to the Brazilian before he was shot and said some appeared to have been "out of control."  Continued...