Jean Charles de Menezes’ family settles for £100,000 Met payout

The four-year battle for justice by the family of Jean Charles de Menezes finally ended today after they reached a legal settlement with Scotland Yard.

The Metropolitan police agreed to pay compensation to the family, and in return the relatives of the Brazilian electrician agreed to end their legal action.

De Menezes was killed on 22 July 2005 in a tube carriage by officers hunting for would-be suicide bombers who had attacked London’s transport network the previous day.

The sum of money involved in the settlement is believed to be just above £100,000. In addition the family’s substantial legal costs will be paid.

Both sides refused to comment on claims that the compensation was less than it otherwise would have been because the De Menezes family, who come from Brazil, are poor.

A string of police blunders led to the innocent electrician being held down by police and shot repeatedly in the head. They mistakenly believed he was a suicide bomber about to detonate a device.

Menezes, 27, was mistaken for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman, who had attempted to bomb London on 21 July 2005, just a fortnight after terrorist attacks in the capital had killed 52 people and injured 750 others.

A string of police blunders led two members of the force’s elite armed unit, CO19, to open fire with their guns just 1cm to 8cm away from De Menezes’s head as another officer pinned him into a seat on an underground train. Seven bullets entered the innocent man, one misfired, and one missed. He was killed instantly.

The Crown Prosecution Service decided that no individual should be prosecuted. That included the two police marksmen who shot dead the Brazilian, despite a jury disbelieving key parts of their account of the killing.

In December 2008 a jury at the inquest into the killing returned an open verdict after hearing damning evidence of police blunders that led to the shooting.

Yesterday a joint statement from the Metropolitan police service and the De Menezes family said: “The commissioner of police of the metropolis and representatives of the De Menezes family are pleased to announce that all litigation between them arising out of the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes has been resolved.

“The members of the family are pleased that a compensation package has been agreed which enables them to put these events behind them and move forward with their lives.

“In view of the physical and mental distress caused to the members of the family by these events and the understandable publicity and press interest, it has been agreed that it is in the best interests of the family that no further statement in relation to this settlement will be made either by them or the commissioner.

“The commissioner would like to take this opportunity of making a further unreserved apology to the family for the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes and to reiterate that he was a totally innocent victim and in no way to blame for his untimely death.”

The fallout from the shooting played a key part in destroying the commissionership of Sir Ian Blair, who was eventually ousted from office.

The Metropolitan police was convicted of health and safety failures at the Old Bailey, fined £175,000 and ordered to pay £385,000 costs.

The conclusion of court proceedings opened the door for the publication of a critical Independent Police Complaints Commission ≠report.

The coroner Sir Michael Wright recorded an open verdict at the end of a multimillion-pound inquest last year.

A jury rejected the police account of the shooting at the end of the detailed three-month inquest.

Immediately after the shooting the Met hand-delivered a letter to the family in Brazil, offering an “ex gratia” payment of £15,000.