Menezes family stages courtroom protest

Relatives of Jean Charles de Menezes staged a courtroom protest today - just minutes before jurors were sent out to consider verdicts.

The 27-year-old Brazilian's cousins stood up in front of the jury and unveiled T-shirts displaying the message: "Your legal right to decide - unlawful killing verdict."

Coroner Sir Michael Wright directed the jury earlier that they could return only a verdict of lawful killing or an open verdict.

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Several of the 11 jurors looked on open-mouthed as Mr de Menezes's three cousins stood up and unzipped their jackets, revealing the message.

Flanked by a supporter, they walked towards the jurors, saying nothing, before leaving the courtroom while proceedings continued.

Mr de Menezes was shot dead by police marksmen at Stockwell Tube station in south London on July 22 2005 after being mistaken for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman.

The Menezes family's legal team, led by Michael Mansfield QC, withdrew from the inquest, the inquest heard.

Mr Mansfield and his junior, Henrietta Hill, were absent from court when the jury returned to hear the coroner complete his summing up.

Coroner Sir Michael Wright told the jurors: "You may notice that Mr Mansfield and Miss Hill and their instructing solicitors are no longer in their places.

"The evidence and legal submissions of course are now all over, and we have had all their assistance throughout those very important stages.

"I understand, however, that from this point they will no longer be here.

"There is absolutely no difficulty about that, no disrespect is meant by it to anyone, and I am sure that you will have been greatly assisted by their work over the course of this inquest.

"The other representation remains as before."

He told the jurors to cast aside "any emotion" over the innocent Brazilian's shooting after hearing more than seven weeks of evidence.

Sir Michael took the unconventional step of issuing a "questionnaire" relating to the circumstances surrounding the incident.

After choosing between lawful killing or an open verdict, the jurors must decide:

* Did officer C12 shout the words "armed police" at Mr de Menezes before firing?

* Did Mr de Menezes stand up from his seat before he was grabbed in a bear hug by officer Ivor?

* Did Mr de Menezes move towards C12 before he was grabbed in a bear hug by officer Ivor?

The jurors will then rule whether a string of additional factors - including identification, photographs, communications and orders issued from the control room at New Scotland Yard - caused or contributed to the death of Mr de Menezes.

They will have to decide whether differences in police officers' accounts were caused by "failure of recollection" or by "misunderstandings and failures of communication" at the time, the coroner said.

The inquest at the Oval cricket ground, south London, heard from 100 witnesses, including the two men who shot dead the electrician.

For the first time the public was given a full account of the incident from key witnesses on board the Underground carriage where the shooting took place.

The jury was told yesterday that police were wrong in claiming they could not access photographs which could have ruled out Mr de Menezes as a suspected suicide bomber.

The shooting came two weeks after London was rocked by the July 7 bombings that left 52 victims dead.

On 21 July, a second gang of Islamist extremists attempted to murder dozens more with home-made rucksack bombs.

As counter terrorist police scoured the capital for the escaped would-be suicide bombers, Mr de Menezes was mistaken for Osman and shot dead.