De Menezes police shooting hearing to reopen

LONDON, Sep 19 (Reuters) The case against the Metropolitan Police over the shooting dead of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, who was mistakenly taken for a suicide bomber last year, reopens in court today.

The London police force is being prosecuted under health and safety laws, more usually used to resolve incidents at work.

The officers who shot the 27-year-old at Stockwell station in south London are not facing charges.

A first hearing last month was adjourned until Tuesday at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court after police lawyers requested extra time to consider their plea.

The family of de Menezes has described the decision to prosecute police under health and safety laws as ''ridiculous''.

De Menezes was shot seven times in the head after he boarded a London underground train on July 22 last year.

Two weeks earlier, four suicide bombers had killed 52 commuters on three trains and a bus in London. Police said a copycat attack on July 21 only failed because the bombs were faulty.

The Crown Prosecution Service said in July this year there was insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction against any individual police officer over de Menezes's death.

But it said it ''operational errors'' indicated there had been a breach of duties owed to non-employees under the Health and Safety Act.

London police chief Ian Blair has been heavily criticised over the shooting and has faced pressure to resign.

REUTERS PDS BST0539