The police marksman who shot dead Chris Kaba has been cleared of murder.
Martyn Blake, 40, fired a single bullet through the windscreen of the Audi Q8 the 24-year-old was driving as armed officers surrounded the car in Streatham, south London, while he tried to escape.
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.
The family of Mr Kaba sat in silence and made no immediate reaction.
In a post on X, Conservative leadership hopeful, Robert Jenrick, called Mr Blake a “hero who found himself fearing for his life and the life of his colleagues”.
He called his prosecution “wrong”, adding: “The ordeal he has gone through, unthinkable. We must back our brave police officers, and not drag them through the courts for making split second decisions.”
A helicopter and six police cars were involved in stopping Mr Kaba on the night of 5 September 2022 after the vehicle he was driving had been linked to a shooting outside a school in nearby Brixton the previous evening, the Old Bailey heard.
Mr Kaba knew he was being followed, telling a friend Elisha Fizul: “Lish, one sec, I think there is police behind me,” before he turned into Kirkstall Gardens, where Mr Blake was inside a marked BMW.
The trial hinged on the following 17 seconds, which saw the Audi reverse a short distance, hitting an unmarked car behind, then accelerate forward, reaching an estimated 12mph before colliding with the BMW and a parked Tesla.
Armed officers were heard shouting “go, go, go” and “armed police, get out of the f***ing car,” as they surrounded the vehicle, in footage played in court.
The Audi then reversed at 8mph, hitting the unmarked Volvo behind, and was stationary as Mr Blake pulled the trigger of his carbine less than a second later, followed by shouts of “shots fired” and “where from?”
Mr Kaba, who was not armed and had no weapons in the car, had both hands on the steering wheel when he was shot in the head and he died in hospital in the early hours of the next day.
Prosecutors said Mr Blake may have “become angry, frustrated and annoyed” and Mr Kaba had done nothing in the seconds before he was shot to justify his decision to pull the trigger.
They said the Metropolitan Police officer gave a “false” and “exaggerated” account when he said Mr Kaba used his car as a weapon in a bid “to escape at any cost”.
Mr Blake, who was previously known as NX121 before a judge lifted an anonymity order, told jurors he was “full of dread” as he heard wheel-spinning and the car’s engine revving.
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He said he didn’t intend to kill Mr Kaba, adding: “I had a genuine belief that there was an imminent threat to life, I thought one or more of my colleagues was about to die.
“I thought I was the only person with effective firearms cover at the time.
“If I hadn’t acted, I thought one of my colleagues would be dead. I felt I had a duty to protect them at the time.”
One armed officer said he would have opened fire if Mr Blake had not, while another said he was fractions of a second away from doing so.
Mr Kaba’s shooting sparked a wave of protests, while his family have campaigned for justice.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) handed a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in March last year, following an almost seven-month investigation.
It will review the case before deciding if Mr Blake should face gross misconduct proceedings.
In a statement on Monday, IOPC director Amanda Rowe defended the decision to refer the shooting to the CPS.
She said: “The past few weeks must have been incredibly difficult and distressing for Chris’s family who have sat through the trial, listened to all the evidence and witnessed his final moments played out in court.
“We also recognise the impact that this trial has had on the officer involved, as well as his firearms colleagues and the wider policing community.”
She said the decision to refer the case followed “careful consideration of a significant amount of evidence” gathered during its independent investigation.
“The matter has now been heard in open court and the officer has accounted for his actions before a jury,” she said.
“Ultimately it is that jury’s decision, having carefully considered all the evidence, to determine guilt or innocence and we respect that decision and thank them for their consideration.”
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Some Met firearms officers turned in their weapons after Mr Blake was charged in September last year, while the force’s commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, called for greater legal protections after a review was ordered by then home secretary Suella Braverman.
Mr Blake is only the fourth police officer to be charged with murder or manslaughter over a fatal police shooting in England and Wales since 1990, while a total of 83 people have died in such incidents, according to the Inquest charity.
In that time only one on duty officer, Benjamin Monk, has been found guilty of manslaughter – over the death of former Aston Villa striker Dalian Atkinson, 48 – while none have been convicted of murder.
