Special Report:
Terrorist attacks shock
London
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This is an undated Metropolitan Police
handout photo of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes. The Metropolitan
Police was found guilty on Thursday of a "catastrophic" series of errors
that led to the killing of a Brazilian man in a south London Tube
station. (AFP File Photo) Photo Gallery>>> |
LONDON, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The London Metropolitan
Police (Met) was found guilty of a "catastrophic" series of errors on Thursday
that led to the shooting dead of an innocent man in a London underground
station.
Brazilian electrician Jean Charles De Menezes was
shot seven times by London specialist officers at Stockwell Underground Station
after being mistaken for a failed suicide bomber on July 22, 2005.
The Met had broken Health and Safety legislation when
police officers pursued De Menezes to a underground station and shot him, a jury
at the Old Bailey court found. The Met Police was fined 175,000 pounds with
385,000 pound costs over the shooting.
Prosecutors at the Old Bailey set out 19 alleged
failings in the police operation in the shooting. Cressida Dick, now deputy
assistant commissioner of the Met, had been accused by prosecutors of failing to
keep control of her officers.
But the jury said police chief Cressida Dick, who led
the operation, bore "no personal culpability."
Met Police Commissioner Ian Blair said outside court
that he was staying in his job -- despite calls for his resignation.
Asad Rehman, the De Menezes family campaign
spokesman, said Blair should stand down.
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Ian Blair, Commissioner of London's
Metropolitan Police, addresses the media outside the Central Criminal
Court, known as the Old Bailey, in London November 1,
2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo
Gallery>>> |