Menezes 'aggressive' to officers

Jean Charles de Menezes was followed to the station by police

Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead because he acted in an "aggressive and threatening manner" when challenged by police, a court has heard.

Ronald Thwaites QC, acting for the Metropolitan Police, told an Old Bailey jury the Brazilian was behaving in the same way expected of a suicide bomber.

His death on a train at Stockwell Tube station was a "terrible accident" but not the fault of the police, he added.

The Metropolitan Police deny health and safety charges over the operation.

Mr de Menezes was shot on July 22, 2005, at the station after being mistakenly suspected of being suicide bomber Hussain Osman.

In his closing speech to the jury, Mr Thwaites suggested the 27-year-old may have failed to comply with officers who challenged him because he thought he had drugs in his pocket or because he had a forged stamp in his passport.

It was a terrible tragedy, it is a terrible loss of that young man's life for himself and a terrible pity for his family and his friends, but it is not the fault of the police Ronald Thwaites QC

He described the evidence of officers involved in the police operation and their recollection of Mr de Menezes' behaviour.

One of them, codenamed Ivor, said the Brazilian had appeared "agitated", with his hands "held below his waist and slightly in front of him", and that he had "advanced to within three or four feet".

'Jumped up'

Ivor was "concerned that his hands may come together", said Mr Thwaites, and acted "instinctively" to pin his arms to his sides.

There was a fear he might be "putting two wires together... towards a belt, towards a battery, towards a detonator, who knows?"

Another officer said Mr de Menezes "jumped up from his seat" and a third that he "showed no sign of complying".

Mr Thwaites said no individual officer was to be blamed for what happened.

He said: "They all did their conscientious best.

"This was a terrible accident. It was a terrible tragedy, it is a terrible loss of that young man's life for himself and a terrible pity for his family and his friends, but it is not the fault of the police.

"He was shot because when he was challenged by police he did not comply with them but reacted precisely as they had been briefed a suicide bomber might react at the point of detonating his bomb.

"Furthermore he looked like the suspect and he had behaved suspiciously."

'Treated badly'

Mr Thwaites added: "Not only did he not comply, he moved in an aggressive and threatening manner as interpreted by the police and as would be interpreted by you and me in those circumstances, less than 24 hours after an attempt to bomb the Underground and a bus had taken place."

Mr Thwaites said prosecutors should never have brought the case against the force.

He also criticised the treatment of Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, who was gold commander of the police operation that day, and said her integrity had been questioned.

He said she had been "treated as badly as a common criminal" and "a number of dirty tricks have been practised on her".

Since she was called to give evidence for the defence the prosecution case had been "shifted to blame her almost entirely for everything that they say went wrong", he added.

The trial continues.