Campaigners slam Met police for issuing dumdum bullets

Campaigners have condemned the Met's decision to issue police marksmen with hollow-point bullets similar to those that killed Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes on the Tube.

Scotland Yard plans to supply the ammunition as standard to its firearms officers "in a commitment to making London safer".

Police chiefs say there is less risk of injury to bystanders because the bullets expand and stop when they hit the target, rather than passing straight through the body.

However, Met chiefs denied the bullets were "dumdum", saying the term was slang for ammunition altered by criminals to cause maximum injury and suffering. In fact, dumdum bullets are named after the British arsenal near Calcutta where they were first developed in 1896.

The hollow-point ammunition was used by police marksmen when they shot Mr de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station in 2005. Firearms officers believed they were confronting a suicide bomber about to detonate a device and fired seven bullets into his head at point-blank range.

Members of the Justice4Jean campaign, which represents the 27-year-old's family, said the increased use of the hollow point bullets was "deeply concerning".

The ammunition was previously chosen to be used on suspected suicide bombers because if aimed at the head or essential organs it has the best chance of instantly killing them before they can set off a device.

The bullets were withdrawn from use after the shooting of Mr de Menezes.

Police said the new ammunition was being introduced today after 12 weeks of testing. The bullets are carried by US air marshals because they do not pass through an aircraft fuselage.

The ammunition is banned in warfare but the Met has consulted lawyers about the legality of its use.

Commander Jerry Savill, who is in charge of the Met's CO19 firearms section, said : "The occasions we open fire are very few, but when this difficult decision does have to be taken, we need to stop a subject immediately with as little risk to anyone else as possible."