Officer who shot Jean Charles de Menezes after failed 21/7 terror attack to break 20-year silence in shocking new C4 doc
THE gun cop who shot dead Jean Charles de Menezes after London’s 7/7 terror bombings is to break his silence on TV.
Documentary Shoot to Kill: Terror on the Tube, will hear from the firearms specialist who killed the innocent electrician in 2005.
In the trailer, a voiceover says: “One of the officers who pulled the trigger will now tell his side of the story.”
Mr De Menezes, 27, was travelling to work when he was shot at close range in a case of mistaken identity at Stockwell Station, South London, on July 22.
The capital was in the grip of fear at the time following the July 7 suicide bombings by Islamic extremists — three on the Tube and one on a bus — in which 52 people were killed and injured almost 800.
Two weeks later, on July 21, another four devices exploded on the capital’s transport system but no-one was hurt.
The culprits went on the run hunted by terror experts and police who feared they may strike again at any time.
CCTV images of the four were released.
It was against this background that Mr de Menezes was wrongly identified and shot. In the upcoming Channel 4 documentary trailer the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, says of his death: “It was a tragic accident — that’s what it was.”
The documentary, made by Curious films, is likely to have greater poignancy in the wake of the recent court case which found another firearms officer not guilty of murder after he shot London gangster, Chris Kaba, and had to go into hiding.