MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

De Menezes family consider London Police report

The family of Jean Charles de Menezes are considering the offer of a private briefing from the police watchdog on some of the findings of its report into his fatal shooting by anti-terror officers.

A public vigil to mark the six-month anniversary of the 27-year-old's death will be held on Sunday at Stockwell Tube station in south London, where he was shot seven times in the head after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.

On Thursday this week, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) finally concluded its six-month inquiry into the shooting.

Its report, together with the evidence gathered by its investigators, was handed over to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in two large boxes for it to consider whether to bring criminal charges against any of the police officers involved.

The de Menezes family were furious they had not been allowed to see the report and complained they were being kept "in the dark".

The commission on Thursday sent its report to the Crown Prosecution Service, which will now decide whether to charge any officers.

We are very upset because they gave the report to the police but not to our lawyers or to our cousins in London Giovani de Silva Brother of the victim Mrs Menezes said: "Those who took my son's life should be prosecuted and those who gave the orders.

"As long as we don't have the report we won't trust British justice... when we see the report, then we may trust them."

Giovani de Silva, the victim's brother, said: "We are very upset because they gave the report to the police but not to our lawyers or to our cousins in London."

However, it is understood the IPCC has now submitted "detailed proposals" to the family's legal representatives about how it could brief them on its findings.

The detail of how this would work - particularly given that some members of Mr de Menezes's family are based in England and some in Brazil - has not been disclosed.

One option that had previously been mooted was for the senior investigator John Cummins to fly out to Brazil to meet Mr de Menezes's family personally.

However, it is thought a private, face-to-face briefing with his relatives in London and their legal representatives is more likely.

One report suggested an interpreter could then use an open phone line to relay the discussion back to his family in Brazil.