Coroner’s Court to decide on whether to hold a full inquest into his death at pre

HM Senior Coroner Dr Julian Morris

London Inner South Coroner's Court, 1 Tennis St, London SE1 1YD

Thursday 1 October 2026, 12pm

A pre-inquest review hearing this week will hear important legal arguments to determine whether an inquest into the killing of Chris Kaba will go ahead.

Chris Kaba, a 24 year old Black man, was fatally shot by Martyn Blake, a firearms officer from the Metropolitan Police on 5 September 2022 in Streatham, London. Chris was unarmed and police officers did not know who he was at the time of the shooting.

The police watchdog decided to drop misconduct proceedings against Martyn Blake in August this year.

INQUEST backs the family’s request for an inquest and full investigation into his death to go ahead in order to explore the wider circumstances of his death and key issues not determined by the criminal legal process.

NOTES TO EDITORS

For further information contact Leila Hagmann on leilahagmann@inquest.org.uk.

Follow the Justice for Chris Kaba campaign here.

Chris’s family are represented by INQUEST Lawyers Group members Daniel Machover and Callum Lynch of Hickman & Rose, and Matthew Ryder KC and Ifeanyi Odogwu of Matrix Chambers. The family are supported by Casework Co-Lead, Jodie Anderson.

RELEVANT BACKGROUND

In October 2024, following the acquittal of Martyn Blake, the Home Office commissioned a review into police accountability. This review recommended changes in October 2025 to how police use of force is assessed in misconduct cases. The response to this rapid review was published later that month.

In June 2026, The Police (Conduct) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 came into force. This changed the test for deciding whether a police office has a case to answer (and therefore should face misconduct proceedings) for breaching the standards of professional behaviour, when using force. It made it so that the higher “criminal law test” would apply when considering if a breach had occurred, instead of the lower “civil law test”.

The new regulations made it clear that the civil law test should still continue to apply to cases where an investigation began before 30 June 2026 and includes cases where proceedings have been directed but are outstanding (these are known as ‘transitional cases’). It stated that where such cases go to disciplinary proceedings where there is a case to answer, when applying the civil law test only, officers may face dismissal for conduct which if repeated at the time of the proceedings could not amount to misconduct at all.

However, in July 2026, the IOPC issued its policy on how it would treat outstanding misconduct cases involving use of force. In such cases, it said that disciplinary action would no longer be justified, and that any proceedings would be withdrawn, unless there are ‘exceptional circumstances'. You can read Chris’ family’s response to this update here.

These changes to the disciplinary rules on police use of force, including on cases where misconduct proceedings were already commenced prior to 30 June, will apply to all instances involving fatal and non-fatal use of force by police officers. As a consequence, scrutiny and accountability for each such use of force will inevitably go down. Bereaved families and victims of police use of force already faced a huge uphill struggle to obtain disciplinary action and the IOPC data shows that very few cases make it to a full investigation, let alone disciplinary proceedings or the very rare outcome of a finding of gross misconduct.

A review by Baroness Casey in 2023 found that the Metropolitan police was institutionally racist, homophobic and misogynistic. Looking at the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Firearms Command unit (MO19), which Martyn Blake was in when he shot Chris Kaba, the report found a ‘deeply troubling, toxic culture’ where ‘normal rules do not seem to apply.’

Read INQUEST's joint submission to the Police Accountability Review 2024-25.

RECENT STATS ON DEATHS IN AND FOLLOWING POLICE CUSTODY

On 30 July 2026, the IOPC published its latest annual data for 2025/26 on deaths in and following police custody. It showed that 27 people died in and following police custody, a substantial increase from 18 people who had died the previous year.

Fatal police shootings increased by 100%. Four people were fatally shot in 2025/26, compared to two the previous year. It is the highest number of fatal shootings since 2017/18.

You can read INQUEST’s response to the data here.

CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS OF POLICE OFFICERS INVOLVED IN DEATHS

Since 1990 there have been 1,981 deaths recorded by INQUEST in or following police custody or contact. In that time only one on duty police officer has been found guilty of manslaughter in 2021, and none for murder.

Dalian Atkinson, 48, died on 15 August 2016, following use of force by officers of West Mercia police. PC Benjamin Monk was found guilty of his manslaughter, and was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2021. More information.

In total there have been 12 murder or manslaughter prosecutions brought relating to on duty police officers, including the prosecution of Martyn Blake and the prosecution in the Dalian Atkinson case.

The ten other murder and manslaughter charges did not result in guilty verdicts. Three of these previous cases related to police shootings (this is the fourth), two of which were by Metropolitan Police officers.

Prosecutions have also been brought following deaths in police contact under Health and Safety legislation.

Other criminal charges against officers, such as perjury and misconduct in public office, have been brought following deaths in custody, but most have led to acquittals or not guilty verdicts.

FATAL POLICE SHOOTINGS

Since 1990, INQUEST is aware of 89 people that have been fatally shot by the police in England and Wales. There have been three other murder or manslaughter prosecutions following police shootings:

Azelle Rodney was fatally shot by a Metropolitan police officer in 2005 during a hard stop in North London. Following the public inquiry into the death, which found the officer did not have a lawful justification for killing Azelle, the officer was prosecuted with murder. In 2015, that officer was found not guilty by a majority verdict.

James Ashley was fatally shot in his bedroom by police in 1998 in St Leonards, East Sussex. PC Sherwood was charged following an investigation into the death. Four other Sussex officers were charged with other offences. In 2001, the trials collapsed and no officer was found guilty of any criminal charge.

David Ewin was fatally shot by police in Barnes, London in February 1995. The Metropolitan Police officer who shot him was found not guilty of both the murder and manslaughter of David in 1997. It was the third time the officer had faced trial, after previous juries failed to reach a verdict.

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