STAFF at Stockwell Underground station have protested at police suggestions that closed-circuit television cameras were not working when an innocent man was killed by police hunting potential suicide bombers.

Senior officers are reported to have told the independent investigation into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes that they had no footage from inside the carriage or from on the platform because all five cameras were not working.

But the Tube workers have challenged the police claim, allegedly telling investigators from the Independent Police Complaints Commission that three out of the four cameras covering the platform were definitely working on the morning of July 22.

Staff say that they do not know why the camera inside the carriage would not have filmed the moments when the Brazilian electrician was shot dead by armed police.

Meanwhile, the head of the IPCC investigators has been ordered to appear before a coroner today to report on his progress. John Sampson, the Inner London Coroner, has asked John Cummins, a former detective, to appear before him.

Mr Sampson adjourned the inquest on July 25. Normally the inquest would not sit again until the end of the IPCC investigation and any decision by the Crown Prosecution Service on criminal charges.

But in the past week there has been a succession of leaks from the IPCC inquiry alleging a series of “catastrophic blunders”. The accusations will put further pressure on Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and intensify demands from the de Menezes family for a public inquiry. A spokesman for the Justice4Jean campaign said: “Somebody is lying about this film.”

Scotland Yard declined to answer questions, saying that the matter was in the hands of the IPCC. The first officers on the scene after Mr de Menezes was shot took away all CCTV tapes but allegedly found them blank. Station staff decided to break the confidentiality of what they told the IPCC because they fear they are being blamed for failing to maintain the cameras.

The IPCC has already protested that the police have compromised their investigation by taking away vital evidence, including the tapes, in the first hours of the incident when Sir Ian wanted to block the IPCC from handling the inquiry. Members of the de Menezes family have accused police of evidence tampering.

Alessandro Pereira, a cousin of Mr de Menezes, said that the dispute over the tapes was another reason why the family wanted a public inquiry. Last night he led a protest to Downing Street.

This latest embarrassing allegation against the police came as two senior Brazilian officials arrived in London to assess the investigation They may attend the inquest.

The CCTV system is maintained by Tube Lines, the private sector consortium that is in charge of maintaining the Northern Line. It is understood to have confirmed that the cameras were working that morning. It is not known if staff in the control room saw the shooting unfold on their screens.

A London Underground spokesman said: “Everything now has to go to the IPCC.” However, one senior Tube official said: “What are the realistic odds of five cameras — four on the platform, one in the carriage — all being on the blink?”

Wagner Gonçalves, of the Brazilian Federal Prosecutor’s Office, and Marcio Pereira Pinto Garcia, of the Justice Ministry, plan to see the IPCC tomorrow but officials say that the pair will not be allowed to question any of the surveillance officers or the armed officers involved in the operation.

Nor will they be shown any of the evidence compiled by the IPCC since the leak of witness statements last week.

A spokesman said: “We will update them on our inquiry but we cannot give them any more information than we gave to the lawyers for the de Menezes family. They will get no special treatment, nor will they be shown any sensitive material.”

Yesterday Clare Short, the former Cabinet minister, told the ITV News channel: “We’ve been lied to. This should be bigger than calling for Sir Ian Blair to go. Who was telling the lies?”

Last night Scotland Yard said that it had briefed Mr de Menezes’s cousins in London two days after the fatal shooting.

In a statement the Metropolitan Police said that they had told the London-based cousins that the Brazilian “did not run into the Tube station, that he used a ticket to get through the Tube station barrier — specifically that he did not vault the barrier — and that he was not wearing a padded jacket or carrying a bag”.

Scotland Yard had been accused of not doing enough to correct false reports. But last night the Met said it did tell his London-based family on July 24 that many initial reports were wrong.

In a meeting with Brazilian officials last night, John Yates, a Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Met, reiterated the apology for the death of Mr de Menezes.

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