The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has decided not to prosecute any of the coppers involved in the shooting of Jean-Charles de Menezes.
Understandably the family are very angry at this appalling decision especially in light of the jury’s verdict at the inquest that questioned the police officers’ version of the truth.
Further evidence that truth and justice doesn’t prevail.
From the Justice4Jean website
Menezes Family Condemn CPS Decision Not to Prosecute
Vivian Figuierdo
“Today’s decision is deeply upsetting to my family. The CPS have not met with us or our lawyers about this, we have been totally shut out of the process again. We are all in shock and simply cannot understand how the deliberate killing of an innocent man and an attempt by the Metropolitan police to cover it up does not result in a criminal offence. We condemn the CPS decision and reject the logic of their argument.
The inquest put the truth out there for all the public to see, but the authorities want us to forget the truth to stop us getting justice. But we will never forget.
After almost four years of tireless campaigning by my family and a struggle which has disrupted all of our lives in unimaginable ways, it is clear to us that the state will continue to block any of our attempts to achieve justice through the legal system. We have therefore decided not to continue with our legal challenges. We now turn our efforts to parliament. Justice for Jean will be done one day and we are determined to follow any route to get it”
A spokesperson for the Justice 4 Jean Campaign said
“The decision by the Crown Prosecution Service today marks another low point in appalling way the British legal system has dealt with the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes. Last year, the jury at the inquest found that Jean was not lawfully killed; rejected the police’s versions of events and found that the police lied. How can the public have faith in the police service if they know officers can literally get away with murder? The Menezes family, their lawyers and supporters now call on parliamentarians to act on repairing the failing legislative framework around deaths in custody and police accountability and we will be stepping up their campaign in this area.
Almost exactly 10 years from the publication of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry today’s decision makes it clear that there has been no progress in achieving any sense of a decent system of police accountability in the UK and while the shoot to kill policy remains in place, another family could go through the same horrendous ordeal as the Menezes family “
Harriet Wistrich, solicitor for the Menezes family said
We are disappointed that the CPS have communicated their decision to the media before providing the family with any warning that a decision was about to be made or an opportunity to consider the reasoning for what will undoubtedly be considered a disappointing response. By coincidence, the family had just prepared detailed representations to the CPS of reasons why
a prosecution of certain officers should be considered and we have requested a meeting with the DPP.
After careful consideration regarding the proposed judicial review challenge to the coroner’s decision not to return an unlawful killing verdict, the family have decided not to proceed with this challenge for a number of reasons including the following:
- whilst we maintain that the ruling of the coroner in respect of unlawful killing was wrong, we are acutely aware of the very significant cost to the public purse of pursuing judicial review proceedings – it islikely that in addition to the legal costs to the family and the coroner, the five other interested persons at the inquest will also wish to be legally represented and probably all will require public funding; the proceedings are likely to be protracted and appealed to a higher court by the losing party
- if we were to succeed in our judicial review challenge, the only remedy for the family would be for the court to order a fresh inquest and we cannot see any great benefit in re-hearing all the evidence to enable a different jury to come to a verdict, particularly bearing in mind the very high cost of holding such an inquest, such costs being borne by the residents of Southwark, Lambeth, Greenwich and Lewisham.
- we believe that in the light of the answers given by the jury, they may well have returned an unlawful killing verdict if they had been permitted to.
- we consider that in the light of the jury’s verdict and the significant further evidence that emerged during the course of the inquest, that there is ample ground for the DPP to reconsider the question as to whether any officers should be prosecuted.
- we also believe there are good grounds for the IPCC to reconsider its decision in relation to potential disciplinary proceedings against certain officers and will be making further representations to them.
The letter from Stephen O’Doherty of the Crown Prosecution Service can be downloaded here [PDF, 67K]
