De Menezes family wants commanding officer sacked

The family of Jean Charles de Menezes will write to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, this week calling for Cressida Dick, the senior commander in charge when the 27-year-old Brazilian was shot by police, to be sacked.

Their appeal comes after the former mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, yesterday put up a robust defence of Ms Dick, since promoted to deputy assistant commissioner of the Met, arguing she was the "most talented" officer he had worked with.

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Pressure mounted on Ms Dick when former Metropolitan police commander Brian Paddick revealed that the controversial police rules to deal with a suspected suicide bomber, known as Operation Kratos, were breached on the day of the shooting. His comments came after a jury returned an open verdict into the shooting and cast doubt on the police version of events and the Met's competency on the day.

Family spokeswoman Yasmin Khan said that relatives of Mr De Menezes would be seeking meetings with Mr Johnson, who is also head of the Metropolitan Police Authority, the Met's political watchdog, and Ms Smith to demand action against officers involved in the shooting.

"We are very clear that there was enough evidence to bring cases of unlawful killing, gross negligence and manslaughter at the senior command," she said. "We question whether Cressida Dick is fit to hold her office, and don't think she should be in office. We will be making these points in our letters to the Mayor of London and the Home Secretary." The De Menezes family is also preparing to fight a judicial review of the coroner's decision not to allow an unlawful killing verdict.

Mr Livingstone said that Ms Dick, gold commander on the day Mr De Menezes was shot in July 2005, was a potential future candidate to head the Metropolitan Police.

Mr Paddick, who quit the Met last year, said that under the secret rules for dealing with a suicide bomber, drawn up with the help of Israeli experts, firearms officers at the scene were given discretion to shoot to kill.

"The policy says that if the firearms officers have any doubt that the suspect is a suicide bomber, they should shout a warning and react to how the suspect responds," he said. "But if there is no doubt, then you can fire a critical shot without warning. The evidence is that they didn't shout a warning. Yet we have a surveillance officer saying he didn't get a proper look at Jean Charles when he left the flat and surveillance officers with varying degrees of certainty as to whether it was [terror suspect] Hussain Osman or not. There was ambiguity and no code word."

In other words, there was so much confusion that the officers should not have been sure. So they should have shouted a warning. The case for unlawful killing would have been greatly strengthened by their failure to do so. The two officers who fired the fatal shots told the inquest that they did shout a warning, although none of the 17 civilian witnesses on the train heard them do so. On Friday, the De Menezes inquest said that it did not believe police had given Mr De Menezes the warning that would have saved his life. With doubt surrounding the identification of the suspect, the police would have been in breach of their own policy if no warning had been given, which the jury believes to be the case.

Mr Paddick expanded on evidence he gave during the inquest that a "crucial flaw" in Operation Kratos was that there was no code word to authorise lethal force. He added, however, that Ms Dick, as commander, should have been aware of the importance of giving clear instructions. "From her evidence to the inquest, it would appear that she was very calm and was prepared to continue in the role as designated senior officer even after the shooting," he said. "From her own recollection it doesn't appear that she was panicking or under undue pressure in that situation. Therefore, it could be argued that she should have given a more clear and unambiguous order to the officers not to shoot him."

The family's lawyer, Gareth Peirce, said that the family had identified 25 "serious and catastrophic" errors committed by Ms Dick. Further doubt was cast on her role by senior Met sources. One said: "She is not commissioner material at all. Those who know her well describe her as indecisive."

The jury was specifically asked: "[Did] a failure to conclude, at the time, that surveillance officers should still be used to carry out the stop of Mr De Menezes at Stockwell station even after it was reported that specialist firearms officers could perform the stop [contribute to the death of Mr De Menezes]. They answered, "Yes."

Harriet Wistrich, also on the family's legal team, said that it was unlikely there was enough evidence for a charge of perjury to be brought against the police. Instead, the family would concentrate on the judicial review. Solicitors who specialise in inquests believed that that coroner, Sir Michael Wright, mishandled the inquest in favour of the police. One said that his questionnaire to the jury "read like a Met Police press release".

The Director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, said that everyone involved in the case had been "let down" by the lack of an adequate inquiry. She added: "I do think there now has to be parliamentary approval for what the rules of engagement are in relation to a suspected suicide bomber. It is too important in a democracy."

The main police players

Cressida Dick Responsible for the operation that resulted in shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. Promoted to deputy assistant commissioner 2006.

Charlie 2 Shot De Menezes six times. Told inquest he had never fired his gun before and had shouted a warning. Still a police marksman.

Charlie 12 First officer to open fire. Told inquest: "I'm responsible for the death of an innocent man." Remains a firearms officer.

Sir Ian Blair Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner resigned during the inquest and received a £400,000 golden handshake. Now writing a book.

John McDowell Senior officer launched the surveillance operation that ended in De Menezes's death. Now a deputy assistant commissioner.