Wallet and phone proved victim was not terrorist

Evidence of Jean Charles de Menezes' true identity began to emerge before Met chief Sir Ian Blair told the public that his death was "directly linked" to the anti-terror operation, a report said today.

His wallet, containing documents identifying the Brazilian, was first found minutes after he was shot and then searched properly several hours later at 2.47pm on July 22 2005.

At 3.30pm, Sir Ian was telling the world that the shooting was linked to the "ongoing and expanding" terrorist investigation.

The miscommunication is the clearest example of how senior officers in the Met failed to speak to each other in the aftermath of the shooting.

According to the Independent Police Complaints Commission's (IPCC) Stockwell Two report, the wallet was found just four minutes after Mr de Menezes was gunned down.

It was placed on a seat of the Tube carriage at Stockwell station along with the Brazilian's mobile phone.

Over the next few hours senior officers were briefed that the man they had shot was a "lone Pakistani male" as crucial evidence to the contrary lay in the wallet.

It was not until around 1pm that other evidence began to emerge after an officer accessed the memory of Mr de Menezes's phone.

The phone revealed names of Latin origin, rather than Arabic or Asian, while a photograph of the Brazilian was also found in the phone's memory.

Then, at 2.47pm, police found the Brazilian's documentation in the wallet, giving the identity of Jean Charles de Menezes born in Sao Paulo on January 7 1978.

Stockwell Two reveals that the information was immediately phoned through to Scotland Yard, with a senior officer being informed as early as 3.08pm.

Within minutes Sir Ian's own office, including his chief of staff Caroline Murdoch, were aware of the contents of the wallet but did not tell the Met chief.

Then just before Sir Ian attended the key press conference, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick claims he was told by another officer: "We've shot a Brazilian tourist".

Soon rumours of the dead man's true identity began to fly around inside - and even outside - Scotland Yard but Sir Ian remained uninformed.

The rumours even reached other police stations.

At 5pm a detective at Marylebone Police Station in the north west of the capital was told by a senior officer that there had been a "massive cock-up" at Stockwell.

Despite the widespread rumours, the Met continued to assume that Mr de Menezes identity had not been firmly established.

Officers claim this was in part due to the mobile phone having a past link to crime - something Mr de Menezes may not have known - and a Pakistani business card recovered from the scene.

But throughout the evening of July 22 more evidence emerged of the Brazilian's true identity.

At 7pm, a detective was informed that a trace of a bank card found on Mr de Menezes confirmed his name and placed his address as 17 Scotia Road.

This was slightly different from the flat that police had under surveillance.

A senior officer then recorded in a log at 8.21pm that a letter discovered under the Brazilian's body also confirmed his address as number 17.

This effectively cut any link to the anti-terror operation into the July 21 attacks, but despite this it was still many hours before the Met confirmed it had made a mistake.