Cop who killed Jean Charles de Menezes: I'd do anything to roll back time

ONE of the two marksmen who shot Jean Charles de Menezes has spoken about the tragedy for the first time - 20 years after one of Britain's worst police blunders.

- BY MATT ROPER

In an emotional admission he accepted responsibility for the innocent Brazilian's death and apologised.

He said: “I would say to Jean Charles’ family that I am sorry, that I and another officer were put in a position where we killed your son.

“I would do anything to roll back time, to have a different set of circumstances where that didn't happen.”

Jean Charles, 27, died after he was pinned down and shot in the head by two officers who mistook him for a suicide bomber in a tube train at Stockwell station, South London, on July 22, 2005.

The incident followed heightened tensions a fortnight after 7/7 when 52 people were killed, and a day after would-be suicide bombers tried to detonate more devices on London's transport network.

Speaking in a four-part Netflix documentary released next week, the policeman, codenamed C2, remembered: “By the time I'd got home I was aware there was speculation regarding the identity of the person I had killed. I didn't get any sleep, and I still had massive tinnitus, a very, very loud ringing in my ears.

“The next day I caught the tube back to work and I was called into the chief superintendent's office.

“He told me that the man I shot was completely innocent. I can't describe how I felt, the worst feeling ever, I killed an innocent man and I now know who that man is.”

C2 killed the electrician with six bullets after his colleague initially opened fire.

He said: “I am responsible, and I accept responsibility. As a firearms officer ultimately the decision to use force is yours.

“But why were we in that position? Those people in command put me in that position, they also have to answer.”

His apology is of little comfort to the de Menezes family.

Among those are Jean Charles’ cousins, Patricia Da Silva Armani and Vivian Figueiredo, who he was sharing a flat with at the time.