PATHOLOGIST TELLS JURY HE WAS MISLED BY POLICE
A senior pathologist has told the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes that he was misled during a police briefing into believing the Brazilian "vaulted" over a ticket barrier before he was shot dead in south London.
Dr Kenneth Shorrock, who carried out post-mortem examinations after Mr de Menezes was killed, reportedly said that he wrongly recorded in his notes that the Brazilian jumped over a barrier before "stumbling" down an escalator in the moments before officers opened fire.
He said he was given the false information during a "walk-through" with officers at Stockwell Tube station in the hours after the shooting.
He told how he was not sure who told him Mr de Menezes had "vaulted" the barrier before he was shot.
When asked why there were "significant errors" in his initial report, he replied: "This was what was told to me. He added "What happened at that time was that there were a lot of officers present and we were taken through."
Dr Shorrock went on to say that "I did not write anything down. I did not make any note of who told me what - but, at the next opportunity that I had, I got my Dictaphone."
He told a jury at the Oval cricket ground, south London, that "it was a long day" but rejected suggestions he was influenced by media reports, insisting he had made the notes before he had seen any news items.
Police marksmen shot Mr de Menezes seven times in the head at point-blank range on a train carriage on July 22 2005 after being mistaken for one of the terrorists behind the previous day's failed suicide attacks on the capital.
ENDS