19/09/2006

Metropolitan Police deny Menezes charge

The Metropolitan Police have pleaded not guilty to breaching health and safety laws over the fatal shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes in July last year.

Mr Menezes was shot dead by anti-terror police at Stockwell Tube station after he was mistaken for a suicide bomber on July 22 last year, two weeks after four suicide bombers exploded devices on three trains and a bus in the capital, killing 52 people.

Lawyers for the Metropolitan Police entered a not guilty plea at the City of Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

The case is now likely to resume at the Old Bailey next January.

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police Service said: "The decision to defend the case has been reached after the most careful consideration. It is not about diminishing the tragedy of Jean Charles de Menezes' death."

(KMcA/EF)

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