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| Jean Charles de Menezes family loses European court fight | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The decision not to prosecute UK police over the 2005 shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes has been backed by the European Court of Human Rights. | The decision not to prosecute UK police over the 2005 shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes has been backed by the European Court of Human Rights. |
| The Brazilian electrician was killed at Stockwell Tube station by police who mistook him for a terror suspect. | The Brazilian electrician was killed at Stockwell Tube station by police who mistook him for a terror suspect. |
| His family had argued that the bar for prosecution should be lower, and that officers should not have been allowed to claim they acted in self-defence. | |
| Judges said the prosecutors' decision did not breach human rights laws. | |
| UK authorities thoroughly investigated, and concluded there was not enough evidence to prosecute any one officer over the shooting, the court ruled. | UK authorities thoroughly investigated, and concluded there was not enough evidence to prosecute any one officer over the shooting, the court ruled. |
| Mr de Menezes' family had argued that the assessment used by British prosecutors in deciding no-one should be charged was incompatible with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights - which covers the right to life. | |
| They claimed the test applied by the Crown Prosecution Service - that there should be sufficient evidence for a "realistic prospect" of conviction - was too high a threshold. | |
| However, judges ruled against them by 13 votes to four. | |
| Profile: Jean Charles de Menezes | |
| The UK government said the Strasbourg court had handed down "the right judgment". | |
| "The facts of this case are tragic, but the government considers that the court has upheld the important principle that individuals are only prosecuted where there is a realistic prospect of conviction," a spokesperson said. | |
| Legal timeline |