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Unarmed black man shot dead by Met Police during attempted prison break was ‘lawfully killed,’ inquiry concludes

But probe hears of a ‘catalogue of failures’ in planning and execution of police operation

AN UNARMED black man who was shot dead by a Metropolitan Police officer was “lawfully killed,” an inquiry into his death has concluded. 

Jermaine Baker, 28, a father of two, was killed during an attempt to free an inmate from a police vehicle near Wood Green Crown Court on December 11, 2015. 

He was shot by a counter-terrorism specialist firearms officer referred to as W80, who had told the inquiry he believed Baker had been reaching for a firearm. 

The public inquiry identified a “catalogue of failures” in the planning and execution of the police operation to foil the attempt. 

The probe had heard how officers had intelligence that the group had been unable to obtain a real gun but this information was not passed to the firearms team who confronted the men. 

In its final report, published today, the inquiry chair Clement Goldstone QC said there had been failures to properly document the planning of the operation, and in the communication of intelligence between officers. 

Intelligence reports were wrongly labelled with a different operational name, the inquiry found, adding that no-one had appeared to notice this. 

This was one example indicative of a “causal approach” to formality that was a “hallmark” of much of the operation, the inquiry said. 

The chair said the inquiry should serve as a loud wake-up call to the newly appointed commissioner. 

“The sobering fact [is] that had it not been for the tragic death of Mr Baker, the extent of the catalogue of failings in the preparation of the MPS operation, in the conduct of which he was killed, would have remained out of the public eye.”

However despite identifying numerous failures he concluded that the killing had been lawful. 

He said: “I conclude that, when W80 shot Mr Baker, he held an honest and genuine belief that Mr Baker was moving in order to reach for the firearm.

“As such, W80 perceived that Mr Baker posed a lethal threat… I draw the conclusion, on the balance of probabilities, that the perceived threat from the actions and movement of Mr Baker was such that W80 honestly believed that it was reasonably necessary for him to shoot at Mr Baker.”

He also concluded that race did not play any part in Baker’s death. 

(More to follow) 

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