Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian shot dead last week by police in a London Underground station, was not wearing a heavy jacket that might have concealed a bomb, and did not jump the ticket barrier when challenged by armed plainclothes police, his cousin said yesterday.
Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with the London Metropolitan police, Vivien Figueiredo (22) said the first reports of how her 27-year-old cousin had been killed in mistake for a suicide bomber on Friday at Stockwell tube station in south London were wrong.
"He used a travel card," she said. "He had no bulky jacket, he was wearing a jeans jacket. But even if he was wearing a bulky jacket, that wouldn't be an excuse to kill him."
Flanked by the de Menezes family's solicitor, Gareth Peirce, and by Bianca Jagger, the anti-Iraq-war campaigner, she condemned the shoot-to-kill policy which had led to her cousin's death and vowed that what she called the "crime" would not go unpunished.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has beguan inquiry which is expected to take several months.
Yesterday it emerged that one officer involved has been given leave, and two have been moved to non-firearm duties. Ms Figueiredo condemned police commissioner Sir Ian Blair's decision to authorise the leave.
The body of Mr de Menezes is being flown to Brazil tonight for a funeral tomorrow. Simultaneously, a memorial service will be held at Westminster Cathedral, with TV coverage beamed live to Brazil.