Tipped off by Nich Starling, I’ve been reading what Ken Livingstone said on Andrew Marr’s program this morning about the shooting dead of Jean Charles de Menezes. Our Ken talked about de Menezes making a movement that made the police think he was a suicide bomber.
The implication of this to me is clear – it was in part de Menezes’s fault for behaving like a suicide bomber and there was no mistake or misjudgement by the police – especially as Ken didn’t enter into any caveats or further explanations.
So let’s be absolutely clear – that’s nonsense. The report into his death was very, very clear:
Nor must there be any attempt to blame Jean Charles de Menezes himself for his fate. He did nothing out of the ordinary.
So what to make of Ken’s comments? Well, to me they sound like a crude smear – blame the victim rather than face up to the police’s failure. Shame on you Ken.
Lynne Featherstone 
The surveillance team believed Charles De Menezes was was him(Hussain, Osman). However, they were regrettably wrong. According to Cressida Dick, the then Gold Commissioner, and now a Deputy Assistant Commissioner in the Metropolitan Police suggested, “from the behaviours that had been described to me, given that I thought they thought it was him – it could, very, very well be him.” She further added, “The behaviours that were described – the nervousness, agitation, the sending of messages, the telephone, getting on and off the bus, added to the picture of someone potentially intent on causing an explosion.” “Then, of course, added to that, this person was coming off a bus to enter the same Tube station that the bomber I had seen on the video had entered the day before,” she said. She concluded her statement by affirming “That all added up – I cannot be certain – to someone who posed potentially a very high risk to the public.” She felt that the danger of allowing a potential bomber on to the Tube combined with the risk of losing surveillance in the Underground meant the man had to be stopped even though SO19 specialist firearms teams had not yet arrived. So you can see the dilemma the Metropolitan Police were in, she had to make a split second decision. Unfortunately, an innocent man was killed. This was a failure. Clearly, there processes and the way in which the operation was conducted was a complete failure. The lack of communication between officers posed a more significant threat, preventing officers communicating with each other etc. There were many significant failures, combined with radio difficulties underground. This was a complete failure. An enormous blunder by officers on the ground. The Commissioner has expressed his regret and changes in the way Operation Kratos is delivered has been changed to ensure accidents of this nature do not occur again.Thanks Mash