BRITAIN: British officials met the family of the Brazilian electrician shot dead on the London Underground train yesterday amid speculation they were to receive a large compensation offer from Scotland Yard.
The British ambassador to Brazil, Peter Collecott, and London's Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner John Yates met relatives of Jean Charles de Menezes in his hometown of Gonzaga as the Brazilian press said Britain would pay out thousands of pounds for the mistaken killing 11 days ago.
After an hour of talks Mr de Menezes' brother, Giovane, told the Guardian: "It's all resolved . . . It's all being resolved." His cousin, Alex Alves Pereira, described the meeting as friendly.
But Mr Yates refused to comment on whether compensation had been discussed. "A number of subjects were discussed, but they are private between the family and ourselves," he said.
Brazilian news organisation Globo had reported yesterday that the Met was to pay out "several thousand pounds" to the family. The regional Estado de Minas newspaper said the family could receive up to $1 million.
The atmosphere was tense in Gonzaga as the British team, accompanied by around 25 military and federal police, arrived at the town hall shortly before 9am. Placards still adorned the town declaring Mr de Menezes a "martyr of British terrorism".
Speaking at the family's farm before the meeting, Mr de Menezes's mother, Maria Otoni de Menezes, who was heavily sedated, said: "I'll be honest with you - it isn't easy. I don't know if I'll even be able to talk to him [ the ambassador]." - (Guardian service)