The jury at the inquest in to the shooting death of Jean Charles de Menezes have been told to ask themselves why armed police officers had shot the Tulse Hill electrician.

Summing up the evidence for the 11-strong jury today, retired High Court judge Sir Michael Wright said: “You might want to consider why they might have shot him if they did not genuinely believe that he posed an imminent and lethal threat, even though they were obviously in error about that.”

The coroner then spoke about police officer Charlie 12’s evidence, who broke down and cried reliving the events of July 22.

“This was a tough, fit, highly trained man who broke down in to tears and this factor might assist you in assessing the depth of the emotional experience that he was going through when he recalled the terrible events of July 22.”

The coroner went back over the evidence and said that the officers had categorically denied the suggestion put to them by Menezes family barrister Mr Mansfield QC that they had decided to kill Mr Menezes before they entered the tube.

The coroner yesterday ruled out a verdict of unlawful killing.

Sir Michael told jurors they will only be allowed to return a verdict of lawful killing or an open verdict.

Having considered all the evidence, a verdict of unlawful killing was "not justified", he said.

The coroner told jurors to cast aside "any emotion" over the innocent Brazilian's shooting.

He also warned the 11 jurors they must not attach any criminal or civil fault to individuals.

He told them verdicts cannot be inconsistent with the outcome of the Metropolitan Police's health and safety trial, which spared Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick of personal blame.

The coroner began bringing together the final account of how the innocent Brazilian met his death on a Stockwell Tube train.

The 11-person jury has been sitting since September 22 Jurors heard from 100 witnesses, including the two men who shot dead the innocent Brazilian at point-blank range on a carriage on July 22, 2005.

For the first time, the public was given a full account of the incident from key witnesses on board the Underground carriage where the shooting took place.

The jury are expected to be sent out tomorrow morning.