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A police surveillance officer described to a court yesterday how he leapt on Jean Charles de Menezes and pinned him down because he feared that he was a suicide bomber.

The officer told the Old Bailey that when he grabbed Mr de Menezes he felt the shockwave of a gunshot by the side of his head as another policeman shot the young Brazilian dead.

The officer, codenamed Ivor, told the Old Bailey that the scene was “extremely noisy, violent and distressing”. Ivor gave evidence at the beginning of the second week of the trial of the Metropolitan Police for endangering public safety in its conduct of the operation that led to the death.

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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• De Menezes police told to expect suicide bombers

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• Video: watch the CCTV footage

He said he had tailed Mr de Menezes, 27, as he entered Stockwell station on July 22, 2005, the morning after a spate of attempted suicide attacks on the London transport network.

Footage of surveillance officers following Mr de Menezes into the station was shown to the jury.

Ivor had radioed the control room at Scotland Yard saying he could intercept Mr de Menezes, who was a terrorist suspect because he had emerged from an address associated with Hussain Osman, one of the 21/7 bombers.

He said: “I requested via my radio whether or not Mr de Menezes should be detained. I received the reply that I should wait. I was certainly in a position to effect some sort of detention of Mr de Menezes.”

Minutes later, on a Northern Line train, Ivor jumped on the startled electrician when he stood up from his seat.

Ivor said: “I grabbed Mr de Menezes wrapping both my arms around the torso, pinning his arms against his side, pushing him back to the seat with the right-hand side of my head against the right-hand side of his torso, pinning him to the seat. He appeared to stiffen up. He was not in a natural sitting position but he was back where he had been sitting.

“After a few moments I felt his head turn towards me. I was aware of a CO19 [firearms unit] officer kneeling on the seat to my left. I heard a gunshot very close to my left ear and was hit by the shockwave.”

In the confusion Ivor was dragged to the floor by a firearms officer who pointed a gun at him. He said: “The long-barrelled weapon was levelled at my chest and the barrel was at my head. I held out my hands and shouted, ‘Police’.”

He said that he was then dragged out of the carriage to the rear wall of the platform. His arms were still in the air and he then put on his chequered police cap. He added: “I could hear several gunshots and shouting and screaming but nothing more specific. Members of the public were emptying the carriage, obviously in distress. There was a lot of gunsmoke.”

He told the jury that he had acted “instinctively” against Mr de Menezes. Ivor said: “Given the nature of the subject we were deployed against, I had to make an assessment within seconds. I was concerned that his hands may come together and instinctively pinned his hands to his side. I was obviously concerned that he may be carrying arms or explosives.”

Mr de Menezes was shot seven times in the head after wrongly being identified as a terrorist. He had been followed from his home in Scotia Road, South London, a block of flats linked to Osman. Police were unsure if he was Osman and allowed him to board two buses and a Tube train.

The Office of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police denies a charge of exposing the public to risk.

The trial continues.

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