Page last updated at 13:58 GMT, Tuesday, 23 September 2008 14:58 UK

Jury retraces Menezes' last steps

Jean Charles de Menezes
Mr de Menezes was killed the day after the 21 July 2005 failed bombings

Jurors have retraced the final steps of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, including visiting the Tube station where he was shot dead by police.

They travelled through Stockwell Tube station, south London, to platform two, where Mr de Menezes boarded the train on which he was shot dead in July 2005.

On day two of Mr de Menezes' inquest, the tour also visited the flats where he lived in Tulse Hill, south London.

The 27-year-old was killed after being mistaken for a would-be bomber.

Firearms officers mistook him for missing failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman on 22 July 2005, the day after Osman and three other men failed in suicide bombing attempts.

Split-second decision

A coach convoy carried the six women and five men of the jury on the journey of less than a mile to the Tube station from the inquest room at Oval cricket ground.

Court officials also took part in the tour, with coroner Sir Michael Wright expected to speak to the jurors about the significance of each location.


Stockwell station was closed for about 10 minutes for the visit, and the party entered through side doors after a crowd of media and onlookers gathered at the public entrance.

A shrine to Mr de Menezes, featuring pictures, flowers and newspaper cuttings about the shooting, still stands outside the station.

The tour later took in locations involved in the police operation surrounding the killing of Mr de Menezes, including New Scotland Yard, a building in Leman Street, east London, and Nightingale Lane police station, south-west London.

At Scotia Road, Tulse Hill, police cordoned off the street to allow the inquest group to leave the coaches and look around outside Mr de Menezes' former home.

Members of the Brazilian's family pointed at the second-floor windows where he had lived.

The group was then driven along the route Mr de Menezes walked to catch a bus on the day he died, before retracing the route the bus took to Stockwell station.


Jury members arrive at Stockwell tube station

The inquest was later adjourned until Wednesday.

On Monday - the first day of the 12-week inquest into Mr de Menezes' death - jurors were told firearms officers made a split-second decision to kill him.

Sir Michael said the two officers were "convinced" Mr de Menezes was about to detonate a device on the Tube.

The two firearms officers - identified only as Charlie Two and Charlie 12 - will give evidence in public for the first time later in the inquest.

The jury will consider whether or not Mr de Menezes was unlawfully killed.

Some of Mr de Menezes' relatives have campaigned for police officers involved in the shooting to be prosecuted.

There have been five inquiries relating to the death and its aftermath, including a criminal trial.

In 2007, an Old Bailey jury found the Metropolitan Police guilty of breaching health and safety laws, after hearing about the events leading up to Mr de Menezes being shot.

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