The latest episode in the BBC’s documentary series on the 7/7 bombings will air on Sunday night.
The episode, at 9pm on BBC Two, will focus on the attempted bombings on 21 July, 2005, and subsequent killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was wrongly identified by police as a potential suicide bomber.
Here, Yahoo News UK explains what happened to de Menezes.
What happened to de Menezes?
Jean Charles de Menezes was killed a fortnight after suicide bombers exploded devices on three Tube lines and a London bus on 7 July, 2005, killing 52 people.
Would-be suicide bombers targeted the transport network again on 21 July, but their devices failed to explode.
The following day, 27-year-old de Menezes was mistaken for one of the suspects because they were linked to the same block of flats in Tulse Hill, south London.
Alex Pereira, cousin of Jean Charles de Menezes, outside Stockwell station in the aftermath of his death. (PA Images via Getty Images)
He was followed and then shot seven times by two marksmen at Stockwell Tube station, after officers followed him onto the train carriage.
The day after, 23 July, Scotland Yard confirmed de Menezes was not connected to the 21 July attacks.
Why is it so controversial?
It remains controversial because the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided against prosecuting the officers involved in 2006.
Dame Cressida Dick, who was promoted to Metropolitan Police commissioner in 2017, led the operation in which de Menezes died. A jury cleared her of any blame in his death at the end of the prosecution of the Met under health and safety laws. In 2007, the force was fined £175,000 after being found guilty of endangering the public.
In 2008, a jury at an inquest into his death recorded an open verdict. The jury had previously been banned from considering unlawful killing.
Giovani da Silva and Maria de Menezes, the older brother and mother of Jean Charles de Menzes, pictured after the inquest in 2008. (PA Images via Getty Images)
In 2009, the Met paid compensation, said to be £100,000, to his family.
In 2015, de Menezes’ family challenged the decision not to prosecute anyone at the European Court of Human Rights. But in 2016, this was rejected after judges said there was not enough evidence that this didn’t breach human rights laws.
Speaking to the BBC in 2020, his mother, Maria de Menezes, said: “I don’t think justice has been served – not at all.”
Who were the officers that shot de Menezes?
The firearms officers have remained anonymous for nearly 20 years, but one spoke publicly about his actions for the first time as part of Channel 4’s Shoot To Kill: Terror On The Tube documentary.
He said de Menezes’ demeanour, having been identified as a suspect, led him to believe he was about to detonate a bomb.
“Reliving it in this detail is painful,” the officer said. “I want to make sure that people understand these decisions, although they’re taken quickly, they’re not taken lightly.
“Because of his actions, what he did, the information we received, it left me with no other conclusion than I had to act or we were going to die.”
Jean Charles de Menezes. (Alamy)
The firearms officer, known only as C12, said the way de Menezes stood up had “triggered” something in his head.
“He knew who we were. He still continued on his forward momentum as I had my weapon up, pointing at his head.
“I remember the surveillance officer then in full body contact with him, and apparently what he was trying to do was pin his hands so that he couldn’t detonate.
“I’m expecting an explosion at any moment, he’s gonna blow. We’re gonna die. But that’s the nub of it. If I don’t do something now, we are all going to die.”
Who was Jean Charles de Menezes?
Jean Charles de Menezes was an electrician from Minas Gerais, Brazil. He moved to London in 2002, three years before his killing.
His father, Matosinhos Otoni da Silva, told the BBC in 2015 he had always wanted to be an electrician, having made electrical toys as a child, and that he had wanted to move abroad to support his family.
At the time of his death, da Silva said, “he wanted to stay for another two years to save money so he could come back and invest in a ranch”.
The corporation reported he had been allowed to remain in the UK until June 2003, but after the expiry of the visa was living illegally in the country at the time of his killing.
His mother said 15 years on from his death: “After such a long time, my heart still feels very empty.”