Another civilian could be shot dead by police during a manhunt for a suicide bomber, a senior officer has told the Stockwell shooting inquest.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, who was Gold commander on the day that Jean Charles de Menezes was killed, said that the pursuit of a suicide bomber was by nature a high-risk operation.

Mr de Menezes, 27, a Brazilian electrician, was shot in the head seven times at Stockwell Underground station, South London, on July 22 2005 when police mistook him for one of four men who had tried to detonate bombs in London the day before.

Ms Dick told the inquest, sitting at a special court at the Oval cricket ground, that his death was "a terrible tragedy".

But, answering questions from Michael Mansfield, QC, counsel for the de Menezes family, she said that such an incident might be repeated.

"I'm afraid I do believe that this or something like this could happen again," said Ms Dick.

"The nature of these operations is that they are incredibly high-risk to all concerned. That is the nature of the threat we face from suicide bombers and the difficulty that there is in dealing with such a threat and the very fast timescale in which these things happen.

"I do fear that, in the future, a bomber might not be prevented from setting a bomb and there would be a huge scrutiny of why we did not manage to prevent that.

"Equally, and I pray that it doesn't happen, it is possible that an innocent member of the public might die in circumstances like this."

Ms Dick told the hearing that she had been frank and open about her role in the operation. She added: "I regard myself as somebody who will always take full responsibility for what I have done."

Ms Dick assumed command of the operation at around 7.15am and said that it was in a confused state. She had remarked that "the first hour was appalling, no structure".

But she claimed that big operations were frequently "chaotic" in their early stages and constantly changing.

Ms Dick denied a suggestion from Mr Mansfield that Mr de Meneze's death occurred because the operation "spiralled out of her control".

The officer said that on the evening of the shooting she had gone to Leman Street police station in East London where the specialist firearms team involved was based.

She wanted to acknowledge the team but took care not to probe the incident in detail because there would be an independent inquiry.

An officer taking notes on her behalf made a sketch in the operational log that showed a stick figure lying on the floor with the words "Challenged, shot 9-10 head".

Ms Dick said that she was "not surprised" that the firearms officers had fired nine shots, seven of which hit Mr de Menezes. The thinking behind Operation Kratos, the Metropolitan Police strategy for confronting suicide bombers, was that the suspect would be incapacitated with a shot to the head.

Planning for tackling suicide terrorism in London had begun at Scotland Yard shortly after the September 11 attacks of 2001. Ms Dick said that officers had visited Israel, Sri Lanka and Russia to learn about different countries' experiences of suicide terrorism.

The inquest continues.

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