Family outraged by Tube death cover-up

THE family of Jean Charles de Menezes yesterday called on Britain’s top policeman to “consider his position” after reports that officers covered up their part in the Brazilian’s death.

Newspaper reports claimed that undercover police changed a surveillance log to hide the fact they had mistakenly identified the 27-year-old electrician as a suspected suicide bomber, it was claimed.

Mr de Menezes was shot seven times in the head by anti-terror officers as he tried to board a train at Stockwell Tube station in south London the day after the abortive July 21 attacks.

The alleged cover-up meant blame for the tragedy would have been shifted to senior Scotland Yard commanders or the armed police who pulled the trigger, the News of the World reported.

Last night Asad Rehman, spokesman for the innocent Brazilian’s family, said the allegations had “severely dented” confidence in Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair.

He added: “Sir Ian Blair does need to seriously consider his own position today.”

The News of the World claimed a “Whitehall source” had leaked details from the Independent Police Complaints Commission report into Mr de Menezes’s death, which was handed over to the Crown Prosecution Service 10 days ago.

The electrician was only shot after he was wrongly identified as suspected failed suicide bomber Hussein Osman by a Special Branch team. But after they realised their fatal error, officers allegedly altered the log at a debriefing meeting 10 hours after the shooting.