Express & Star

Campaigners have expressed “deep concern” over a review of police accountability launched in the wake of anger over the murder charge brought against the police officer who shot gang member Chris Kaba.

Groups including Inquest, Liberty and the Centre for Women’s Justice wrote to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper urging her not to change the threshold for an inquest conclusion of unlawful killing, or move against a key ruling on police misconduct proceedings.

Frontline police are losing the confidence to use their full powers after lengthy prosecutions like the trial of the officer who shot Chris Kaba, the shadow home secretary has said.

Chris Philp told a policing conference in Westminster that if the Government does not bring in legal changes to give officers better protection he will bring proposals to Parliament himself.

Frontline police are losing the confidence to use their full powers after lengthy prosecutions like the trial of the officer who shot Chris Kaba, the shadow home secretary has said.

Chris Philp told a policing conference in Westminster that if the Government does not bring in legal changes to give officers better protection he will bring proposals to Parliament himself.

Hundreds of people have gathered for a march in central London to protest over deaths in custody alongside the Justice for Chris Kaba campaign.

Activists gathered on the corner of Trafalgar Square and marched with United Families and Friends Campaign to Downing Street.

The campaign group supports the families of “loved ones lost at the hands of the state”.

Five family members – including one relative of Mr Kaba – arrived at Downing Street dressed in black with a hand-written note addressed to Sir Keir Starmer.

Campaigners and police representatives have called for change following the acquittal of a Metropolitan Police firearms officer accused of the murder of Chris Kaba.

Martyn Blake was cleared of the murder of Mr Kaba, who died after being shot in the head by the police marksman in south London in September 2022.

A jury at the Old Bailey acquitted Mr Blake after around three-and-a-half hours of deliberation on Monday.

After the verdict on Monday afternoon, Mr Kaba’s family said they were “devastated” and felt “the deep pain of injustice”.

Jurors in the trial of a police marksman accused of the murder of Chris Kaba have retired to consider their verdicts.

Metropolitan Police firearms officer Martyn Blake, 40, fatally shot the 24-year-old through the windscreen of an Audi Q8 in Streatham, south London, on September 5 2022.

Hemmed in by marked and unmarked police cars, Mr Kaba drove the Audi backwards and forwards in an attempt to escape, the Old Bailey has heard.

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 jury deliberated for some three hours on Monday to clear Mr Blake who appeared to be briefly overcome with emotion as the verdict was returned.

He breathed out, puffed his cheeks and turned away in an apparent show of relief.

The police marksman on trial for killing Chris Kaba was no “RoboCop” with the “nanosecond” reactions of a computer, a court has heard.

Metropolitan Police officer Martyn Blake shot 24-year-old Mr Kaba in the head through the windscreen of an Audi Q8 which had been linked to a shotgun incident the night before.

The Old Bailey has heard how unarmed Mr Kaba knew the police were following him and when surrounded by armed response vehicles had tried to smash and ram his way out.

The police officer who shot Chris Kaba has told a jury he did not intend to kill him when he opened fire.

Martyn Blake, 40, told the Old Bailey that he was aiming at the central body mass of Mr Kaba, who was driving an Audi Q8 at the time, and intended only to stop the car.

The 24-year-old was shot in the head in Streatham, south-east London on September 5 2022, dying in hospital shortly after midnight the following day.

The police marksman who shot Chris Kaba has told a jury he thought one of his colleagues was about to die when he opened fire.

Giving evidence in public for the first time at the Old Bailey on Monday, Martyn Blake said he was “filled with dread” as the Audi Mr Kaba was driving moved backwards and forwards with police officers surrounding the car.

Mr Blake fatally shot Mr Kaba, 24, through the windscreen of the Audi in Streatham, south-east London on September 5 2022.