Police control room 'in chaos', De Menezes inquest told

British officers involved in the pursuit of Jean Charles de Menezes today criticised “chaotic” scenes in the police control room on the day he was shot.

A special branch operations room boss, whose identity was withheld, claimed he was not even aware the Brazilian electrician had been identified as failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman.

He also told Mr de Menezes’s inquest how he did not know who was in charge amid “noisy” scenes at New Scotland Yard.

“There were no clear lines of communication,” he told a jury at the Oval cricket ground, south London.

Despite his duties to assist Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, the detective superintendent, known only as ’Brian’, said he was “bypassed” on many details.

He said: “It was noisier than normal. There were a large amount of officers in a small room.”

When asked about communication between surveillance and the control room, he replied: “I think at times they were struggling.

“The noise levels certainly did not lessen. At times it was difficult to hear people not too far away.”

When asked whether it was true no one had been identified to him as in charge, he said: “Yes it was sir, yes it was.”

The officer, who was in control of administrative tasks in the control room, said he was not aware Mr de Menezes had been identified when he was shot.

He added: “I was certainly aware that a male had been shot. The fact that he was unidentified, from what I could gather from the room, was how it felt at the moment.”

He later denied claims his criticisms could be attributed to departmental rivalry.

Yesterday Ms Dick admitted her officers were not prepared for a failed suicide bombing.

She believed Mr de Menezes posed a “great threat” as officers pursued him on July 22, 2005 however.

Mr de Menezes, 27, was killed by specialist firearms officers who mistook him for Osman after boarding a train at Stockwell Tube station in London.