Police face no charges over de Menezes - 13th Feb 2009 4:10pm
No police officers will be prosecuted over the death of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station.
The announcement comes after a review of evidence heard at the inquest into his death which returned an open verdict last December.
The jury at the inquest concluded they did not accept accounts given by the two officers who shot Mr de Menezes, known as Charlie 2 and Charlie 12.
But they were not given the option of an unlawful killing verdict after Coroner Sir Michael Wright controversially ruled it out.
Stephen O'Doherty, reviewing lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, said that in making his decision he had considered whether the two officers had lied to the inquest.
But he added that "although there were some inconsistencies in what the officers said at the inquest, there were also inconsistencies in what passengers had said. I concluded that in the confusion of what occurred on the day, a jury could not be sure that any officer had deliberately given a false account of events.
He added: "I also considered the actions of the individual officers in the police management team on that day and considered whether there was sufficient evidence to charge any of them with gross negligence manslaughter.
"There was no fresh evidence from the inquest which caused me to change my original decision that there was insufficient evidence to do so.
ITN NEWS
The announcement comes after a review of evidence heard at the inquest into his death which returned an open verdict last December.
The jury at the inquest concluded they did not accept accounts given by the two officers who shot Mr de Menezes, known as Charlie 2 and Charlie 12.
But they were not given the option of an unlawful killing verdict after Coroner Sir Michael Wright controversially ruled it out.
Stephen O'Doherty, reviewing lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, said that in making his decision he had considered whether the two officers had lied to the inquest.
But he added that "although there were some inconsistencies in what the officers said at the inquest, there were also inconsistencies in what passengers had said. I concluded that in the confusion of what occurred on the day, a jury could not be sure that any officer had deliberately given a false account of events.
He added: "I also considered the actions of the individual officers in the police management team on that day and considered whether there was sufficient evidence to charge any of them with gross negligence manslaughter.
"There was no fresh evidence from the inquest which caused me to change my original decision that there was insufficient evidence to do so.
ITN NEWS
