Today’s RTE (Radio Telef�s Eireann. RTE is the state broadcaster in Ireland) news website contains a report on the Jean Charles De Menezes killing.

The report contains the following sentence:

“Mr de Menezes was shot dead by police at a London underground station six months ago when he was mistaken for a suicide bomber.”

How does RT� know the police mistook him for a suicide bomber? The Independent Police Complaints Commission report into the matter was only delivered to the Crown Prosecution Service today. The killers have not been tried so there has been no way to test the veracity of their claim to have mistaken de Menezes for a suicide bomber. The policemen who killed de Menezes claimed other things which subsequently proved to be untrue.

So how does RT� know the police mistook him for a suicide bomber? Because they said so.

You can contact RTE if you are concerned about how readily they take the police at their word at: [email protected]

Update:

RTE changed the wording almost immediately after I e-mailed them. The relevant part now reads:

“Mr de Menezes was shot dead by police at a London underground station six months ago. Police officers claimed that they thought he was a suicide bomber.”