Menezes family to meet president

The Menezes family have run a high-profile campaign since the shooting

Relatives of the Brazilian man shot dead by police in London are to meet the country's president for private talks on Thursday, the family has said.

Three cousins and a friend of Jean Charles de Menezes, 27 - shot last July - will speak to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the end of his UK state visit.

The family said the meeting would take place at Heathrow airport, but the Brazilian Embassy would not confirm it.

Mr Menezes was shot at a Tube station after police mistook him for a bomber.

Policy defended

A Foreign Office spokesman said he was aware the relatives had requested to meet the president.

A Menezes family spokesman said the meeting would take place in a diplomatic suite at Heathrow airport before the president leaves the country.

The family will make a statement afterwards.

Mr Menezes was shot dead at Stockwell tube station, in south London, the day after the failed bomb attacks on July 21.

He had been mistaken for a suicide bomber and was shot seven times in the head.

On Wednesday, an Association of Chief Police Officers' review of the killing found there was no need to change the strategy police use to deal with suicide bombers.

But it did accept the public needed a clearer explanation of police tactics.

President Lula da Silva is on a three-day visit to the UK, which includes a state dinner at Buckingham Palace, talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair at Downing Street and meetings with business leaders.