More than 40 Metropolitan Police officers are seeking anonymity before they give evidence at the inquest of Jean Charles de Menezes.

Applications to protect the identities of 42 officers, including the two who fired the shots that killed the Brazilian, have been made to the judge who will preside at the inquest in September. A spokesman for the de Menezes family accused the police of making “a desperate attempt to evade accountability” and called for the inquest to be open and transparent.

The Times understands that most of the officers seeking protection are members of the surveillance and specialist firearms teams that were on duty in South London on the day of the shooting. If called to give oral evidence, they want to do so from behind screens using assumed names.

The applications will be heard at a preinquest hearing this week at Southwark Coroner’s Court.

Factfile: revelations from the de Menezes trial

Information about the police killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, on July 22, 2005, that has emerged during the trial

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• Pictures: Jean Charles de Menezes

Background

• Ian Blair survives no confidence vote

• Timeline: how de Menezes identity emerged

• Come quietly, Sir Ian – you’re banged to rights

• ‘It is my task to ensure that lessons are learnt’

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Mr de Menezes, 27, an electrician, was shot on July 22, 2005, after police mistook him for a suicide bomber. He was followed from an address in Tulse Hill, South London, that was associated with Hussain Osman, one of the men who had tried to detonate a suicide bomb on the London Underground the previous day.

Surveillance officers were uncertain about his identity and tailed him as they waited for firearms support. But Mr de Menezes entered Stockwell Tube station and an order was given to stop him.

Armed officers caught up with Mr de Menezes, who had boarded a train. One officer pinned his arms to his sides while two others pressed their handguns to his head and shot him.

The Metropolitan Police was fined £175,000 last year after being found guilty of breaches of health and safety law in relation to the shooting. The officers who fired the shots were not called as witnesses but a number of others testified anonymously.

A spokesman for the Justice4Jean Campaign said: “Over the past three years Jean’s family have endured pictures of Jean lying dead on the floor of a London Tube [train] – it is outrageous that the officers responsible now want to hide behind screens when giving evidence.

“This inquest is the family’s opportunity to hold officers to account for their actions and this must be done in an open and transparent manner. An innocent man was shot dead and officers have a duty to account for their actions in a court of law. It is paramount that justice is seen to be done.

“The Metropolitan Police have always defended their actions, we therefore question why so many officers are attempting to shield their identity?”

Peter Smyth, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said that the officers were seeking to protect their identities because of the nature of their work. “Their ability to work in these types of operation could be compromised if their identities are known and if their photographs were to be taken and published,” Mr Smyth said. “It costs a lot of money to train these guys and if their cover is blown then you have to train someone else to take their place.”

Scotland Yard said that the decision on anonymity was a matter for the coroner. A spokesman said: “In the region of 40 police officers have requested anonymity but, as in the health and safety prosecution, many other officers have not sought it.”

The four men jailed for life last year for the attempted bombings in London on July 21, 2005, were refused leave to appeal against their convictions by three judges at the Court of Appeal yesterday.

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