When police shot dead an alleged terrorist on the London Tube 20 years ago, it appeared a jihadi had been successfully stopped in his tracks. But accounts of the man jumping station barriers while wearing a bulky jacket quickly began to unravel and it later emerged the victim was innocent Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes.
The fatal blunder after a botched police surveillance operation left the 29-year-old’s family back home naturally devastated – made worse by Scotland Yard’s initial reluctance to correct the initial inaccuracies.
But amazing, his mum Maria revealed she has now found it in her heart to forgive the officers who killed her son, despite the years of agony his senseless death caused and no one being prosecuted. The 80-year-old told how she does not want her final years to be consumed by hatred.
Maria also paid an emotional tribute to her son and said she hopes a new TV drama about that fateful day in Stockwell, South London, on July 22, 2005 will let people see the real Jean Charles. Speaking about the police involved, Maria said: “I forgive, but I cannot accept what they have done because they destroyed my son’s life.
“But I’ve come to realise that I don’t want to keep this hatred inside my heart. I believe those people who made the mistakes will pay for it somehow. They have souls, and I have entrusted it to God, as to what will happen to them. But I don’t want this hatred for myself anymore, because I don’t want this to destroy me.”
Her comments mark a change from five years ago when she told the BBC she could not forgive the officers as the “pain was not over”. But in an exclusive interview with the Mirror she said of the new TV drama: “It is hard to forgive, but this series is bringing some relief to us, revealing what the police did and all the lies. So this is helping a lot.
“I believe that whoever watches the series will understand and believe Jean Charles was innocent. He died an innocent man. He was a hard working man on his way to work. That is the most important thing I wanted, the truth revealed.
“I knew my son, so the lies they told about him, jumping the barriers, running and wearing bulky clothes and being aggressive towards the officer, I never believed were true. My son was law-abiding.” Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes starts on Disney+ this month.
It will expose a horrific catalogue of errors on the day he died, shot 27 times in the head on a rush hour Tube carriage in an operation led by commander Cressida Dick. She became Met Commissioner.
Jean Charles was trailed from his home by officers who believed he was a suspect in a previous failed Tube bomb attack. All 17 witnesses told how Jean Charles did not walk towards the police and did nothing to suggest he was a threat. But the delay in police revealing they had shot the wrong man led many to believe he was not entirely innocent. His brother Giovani Da Silva said: “The series helps show how honest a boy he was and how negative the police actions were.
“We believed the police weren’t properly trained. If they were, they would have stopped him before this terrible accident. So they did a very bad job, and people saw only what the police wanted to tell them.
“To this day, there are people who think he was in some way involved with terrorism.” Maria and Giovani have flown to London from their home in Minas Gerais, Brazil, to speak about Jean Charles and have co-operated with the drama’s screenwriter Jeff Pope. Jeff said he cannot give the family total closure but he hopes there is “some kind of catharsis” from his presentation of the facts. He told how the drama is based on years of research and interviews with key figures including the police involved at Stockwell. There is no skirting around scenes, viewers will see the moment Jean Charles is shot.
Maria said: “I felt terrible when I watched it, really unwell.” The drama features real home video footage and photos from family albums showing Jean Charles as a child and teenager. It reveals he was sending money back to his family in a farming community and dreamed of having his own business there one day.
When he left for London, he gave his mum a watch set to GMT so she would always know what time it was in the UK. The family told how they will spend the 20th anniversary of Jean Charles’ death quietly at home remembering him and sharing stories about his life. Maria said: “Mother’s Day is always difficult because he would bring a gift for me.
“We want people to remember him as the real person that he was, not by what was said before and it wasn’t correct.” Giovani added: “We think with the series showing what actually happened, there’ll be some acknowledgement of the mistakes made. And if the police want to clear their name, this might spark some sort of contact with us.”
Jean Charles’ inquest jury returned an open verdict on his death. The Met was fined over health and safety laws. It said the death “came at a time of unprecedented terrorist threat to London”. It added: “No officer sets out intent on ending a life. Our sole purpose is the protection and preservation of life, and we have taken extensive action to address the causes of this tragedy.”
It called the shooting a matter of deep regret and added: “Our thoughts remain with his family and we reiterate our apology to them.”
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