New Scotland Yard’s operations control room was a scene of chaos, confusion and indecision on the day that its officers shot dead an innocent man on the Tube, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

Room 1600 was supposed to be the nerve centre from which senior officers directed a fast-moving operation to catch four would-be suicide bombers. Instead, it was noisy and overcrowded, with radio operators unable to hear transmissions from frontline officers and commanding officers unclear about what was happening.

The court was told that from this room, on the morning of July 22, 2005, conflicting orders were given to the surveillance and firearms teams that followed Jean Charles de Menezes to a Tube train and shot him dead.

Clare Montgomery, QC, for the prosecution, said that the police operation that led to Mr de Menezes’s death had “fundamental failures” and put the public at unnecessary risk.

Factfile: revelations from the de Menezes trial

Information about the police killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, on July 22, 2005, that has emerged during the trial

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• Pictures: Jean Charles de Menezes

BACKGROUND

• Ian Blair survives no confidence vote

• Timeline: how de Menezes identity emerged

• Come quietly, Sir Ian – you’re banged to rights

• ‘It is my task to ensure that lessons are learnt’

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• Met chief criticised again over de Menezes

• Met Police on trial for shooting of de Menezes

• 'They fired into Jean Charles's head seven times'

Among the flaws she detailed were:

— A delay of more than four hours before a firearms unit was deployed to stop and arrest a suspected bomber;

— Confusion among surveillance teams about whether Mr de Menezes was or was not the suspect they were looking for;

— Senior officers believing that Mr de Menezes had been identified as a terrorist despite the fact that no surveillance officer had stated that to be the case;

— Mr de Menezes was allowed to board two buses and a Tube despite fears that he was a suicide bomber.

The control room chaos seemed epitomised by the five minutes before Mr de Menezes was shot, when Commander Cressida Dick, Gold Commander at Scotland Yard, issued a series of contradictory orders to the surveillance team following Mr de Menezes.

Miss Montgomery, who is making the prosecution case against the Metropolitan Police under public health and safety legislation, told the court: “Officers from other departments — many of whom had no real business being there — crowded into the room to see what was going on. The operations room was noisy and chaotic.

“The officers who were involved in the operation had to shout to make themselves heard above the noise. The officer who was supposed to monitor the surveillance commentary had great difficulty in hearing the radio transmissions of the surveillance officers. There were repeated requests for non-essential staff to leave the room.

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