Menezes evidence altered

A senior police surveillance officer is to be investigated after he admitted altering evidence during the Jean Charles de Menezes inquest.

The Special Branch officer, named only as Owen, deleted a line in his computer notes last week, which claimed the Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick initially said the Brazilian electrician could "run onto Tube as not carrying anything". But today he told Mr de Menezes's inquest: "On reflection, I looked at that and thought I cannot actually say that."

An Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) spokesman said: "This matter will be subject to an independent investigation and we are not in a position to comment further at this stage."

He said the line was removed on 7 October – more than two weeks into the hearing at the Oval cricket ground in south London – because he "didn't see it as relevant". He deleted more than he had intended because he was in a rush to get to an appointment, he claimed.

Saying he was now not sure who had actually said "let him run", he added: "All I can say was that one of the options was letting him run because he was not carrying anything and that there's a disagreement between management. I believe it was the commander but when I reflected I couldn't be sure or whether she was saying this is what we are going to do or this is one of the options. it was a woman's voice."

Mr de Menezes, 27, was killed on 22 July 2005 by specialist firearms officers who mistook him for the 7 July bombing suspect Hussain Osmanafter boarding a train at Stockwell Tube station.