Cressida Dick

Ms Dick was Gold Commander in charge of the operation in which Mr de Menezes was killed. The jury which convicted the Metropolitan Police of health and safety offences last year exonerated her of any personal blame for his death.

Insisted at the inquest she had done nothing wrong and said a similar death could occur again. She held the rank of Commander but was promoted to Deputy Assistant Commissioner and is now in charge of Royalty and diplomatic protection units.

Sir Ian Blair

Claimed on the day of the shooting that it had been directly linked to ongoing anti-terror operations and left work that night not knowing that an innocent man had been shot dead. Sir Ian apologised several times to the de Menezes family but mounted an aggressive defence case when the Met stood trial on health and safety breaches last year. Was forced to resign as Metropolitan Police Commissioner this year.

Andy Hayman

The officer in overall charge of counter-terrorism operations in July 2005, Mr Hayman was criticised by the IPCC for not informing Sir Ian of the mistaken shooting of Mr de Menezes. Has since retired from the Met and is pursuing a media career, including commentating for The Times on policing and security matters.

Charlie 2 and Charlie 12

The officers who shot Mr de Menezes gave evidence in public for the first time at the inquest. Both said they felt they had no option but to shoot him dead because they believed he was a suicide bomber. They are still serving with the Metropolitan Police specialist firearms unit but removed themselves from operational duties for the duration of the inquest.

John McDowall

Set the strategy for the operation to contain the block of flats linked to the bomber Hussain Osman in which Mr de Menezes was living. But the plan was not properly followed; a firearms team was not deployed to the address for five hours. Mr McDowall has since been promoted to Deputy Assistant Commissioner and heads the Met's Counter-terrorism Command. Gave evidence from a wheelchair because of a serious illness.

'Ivor'

The surveillance officer who tailed Mr de Menezes most closely and gave evidence that he jumped on the young Brazilian, pinning him to his train seat in the mistaken belief that he was about to detonate a bomb. He is still a serving police officer and is believed to have continued to be involved in covert work.

Hussain Osman

The man police were looking for when they staked out the flats in Tulse Hill, south London. Osman, an Ethiopian who lived in Britain illegally, is serving a minimum 40-year jail sentence for trying to blow up a Tube train at Shepherd's Bush with a rucksack bomb.

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