<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=629 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>Tube shooting charges 'possible'

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=416><!-- S BO --><!-- S IIMA --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD> Mr Menezes was shot dead at Stockwell Tube station

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IIMA --><!-- S SF -->Police officers involved in the fatal shooting of innocent Jean Charles de Menezes on the London Underground could face criminal charges.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it was "likely" its report would be sent to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider.
But investigators did not quiz Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair in person.
Mr Menezes was shot dead at Stockwell Tube station in July after officers mistook him for a suicide bomb suspect. <!-- E SF -->
'Lower threshold'
Nick Hardwick, chairman of the IPCC, said its investigation had to decide whether its findings indicated that criminal offences may have taken place.
<!-- S IBOX --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=208 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5></TD><TD class=sibtbg> I think it will meet that lower threshold (for charges to be brought)


Nick Hardwick, IPCC chairman



<!-- S ILIN -->Met 'welcomes inquiry'
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This was a lower threshold than for the CPS, which would then have to decide whether to bring actual charges against any of the officers involved, he said.
When asked if he thought a copy of the report would be sent to the CPS when it is finished in January, Mr Hardwick said: "I think that is likely."
He added: "I think it will meet that lower threshold. I do not give a complete guarantee of that."
The IPCC's director of legal services John Tate said that if the report was sent to the CPS it would include a list of the criminal offences which they judged may have been committed.
The IPCC would not detail the nature of the alleged offences which the CPS could potentially have to consider, although it is believed they could include offences as serious as murder or manslaughter.
Passengers interviewed
Mr Hardwick said they had interviewed a number of Metropolitan police officers of all ranks over the fatal shooting of Mr Menezes, but police commissioner Sir Ian Blair was not among them.
The inquiry would not confirm whether it had received a written statement from him.
A separate IPCC inquiry is being held into Sir Ian's handling of the affair.
The inquiry was announced last week after the Menezes family lodged an official complaint alleging that he and other senior officers made false public statements following the shooting.

IPCC chairman Nick Hardwick said they had spoken to everyone they needed to for the inquiry into the shooting itself and were confident they knew what happened at Stockwell Tube station and why.
All 30 passengers in the train carriage at the time of the shooting had also been interviewed, he added.
In total the investigation took 600 written statements. Mr Menezes, 27, was shot seven times in the head by anti-terror officers after being mistaken for a suicide bomber the day after the failed 21 July bomb attacks.



What a joke. If he'd have been a terrorist they'd have been heroes. Weren't they ordered to do it anyway?
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