Police chief: No recall of 21/7 suspect’s photo

A SENIOR detective today claimed he "cannot recall" if officers discussed photographs which could have stopped police mistaking Jean Charles de Menezes for a failed suicide bomber.

Detective Inspector Merrick Rose said surveillance of the 21 July 2005 attackers on a Lake District camping trip the previous year was discussed in a briefing.

But he said he could not remember whether pictures of failed bomber Hussain Osman were mentioned before the Brazilian electrician was mistakenly shot dead by police at Stockwell Tube.

Instead the inquest into Mr de Menezes's death, held at the Oval cricket ground, heard officers relied on a gym card photograph and CCTV images.

Mr Rose told the jury that firearms officers were not given copies of the images, but "there was a copy of the photographs available for them during the course of the briefing".

Mr Rose was speaking after a senior surveillance officer, named only as Pat, denied he told police chiefs Mr de Menezes was a suspect.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick claimed Pat said "they think it's him". But Pat, the principal link between surveillance and Ms Dick, said Mr de Menezes, 27, remained only "possibly identifiable with" Osman.

The inquest continues.

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