Rother Radio (128K) Love Local, Love Music!
Rother Radio (64K) Love Local, Love Music!
Rother Radio Xmas Love Local, Love Music!
The police marksman who fatally shot Chris Kaba has been cleared of his murder.
Martyn Blake, 40, stood trial at the Old Bailey after shooting the 24-year-old through the front windscreen of an Audi Q8 in Streatham, south-east London, on September 5 2022.
The car had been used as a getaway vehicle in a shooting the previous evening, and was hemmed in by police cars in Kirkstall Gardens after an officer recognised its registration number.
Mr Kaba drove backwards and forwards trying to ram his way free, which Mr Blake told jurors made him believe one of his colleagues was about to die, and so he opened fire to stop the car.
A fellow firearms officer known as DS87 said he would have taken a shot if Mr Blake had not, and another identified by the cypher E156 said he was “fractions of a second” away from doing the same.
Another, NX109, got the finger of his glove caught in the Audi’s door handle and just managed to wrench it free as it moved forward, telling the jury he thought he would be dragged between it and a Tesla parked nearby.
Prosecutors argued that Mr Blake had misjudged the risk, exaggerated the threat to his colleagues in statements following the shooting, and had aimed at Mr Kaba’s head, all of which he denied.
In his defence, jurors heard a series of glowing testimonials from colleagues and senior officers.
Defence barrister Patrick Gibbs KC said Mr Blake was no “RoboCop”with the “nanosecond” reactions of a computer.
He told jurors: “He is not a robot, he is a human being with a human brain who did this to the best of his ability.”
Police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct will now consider whether Mr Blake should face a disciplinary hearing.
Questions have already been raised about how firearms officers are held to account in fatal shootings, with dozens of Mr Blake’s colleagues downing tools when he was first charged with murder.
Police bosses raised concerns that officers would no longer be willing to volunteer to take on firearms training due to the levels of scrutiny that they could face if they had to take a fatal shot.
Mr Blake had never fired a gun at a human being, or seen a gun fired at a human being, before the night Mr Kaba died.
The jury heard that those close to Mr Blake had been hesitant about him becoming a police marksman but that he felt it was “the best job” in the Metropolitan Police.
Official figures show that in England and Wales in the year to March 2023 there were 18,395 police firearms operations.
Police weapons were deliberately fired at 10 of these incidents, resulting in three fatalities.
Published: by Radio NewsHub
Written by: Radio News Hub
Rother Radio – Love Local, Love Music! → Discover more
Rother Radio is owned by Rotherham Broadcasting CIC
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |