‘Our son deserved better’: Family of Chris Kaba issue statement after Met officer cleared of murder
The family of Chris Kaba have said they have been left with the “deep pain of injustice” after the police marksman who shot him was 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 about three hours on Monday to clear Mr Blake, who appeared to be briefly overcome with emotion as the verdict was returned.
Mr Kaba’s family sat in silence in court, but in a later statement said the not guilty verdict had left them with “the deep pain of injustice”.
“No family should endure the unimaginable grief we have faced. Chris was stolen from us, and this decision shows his life – and many others like him – does not matter to the system. Our son deserved better,” the statement issued by the campaign group Inquest said.
Chris Kaba was shot dead in Streatham, south London
“The acquittal of Martyn Blake isn’t just a failure for our family, but for all those affected by police violence.”
The family vowed that they “won’t be silenced” and will continue fighting for “justice and for real change”.
The verdict was called a “devastating moment” for the “family, our community and the nation”, by the Justice For Chris Kaba Campaign.
‘Huge sacrifice’
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said Mr Blake made a split-second decision on what he thought was necessary “to protect his colleagues and to protect London”.
“No firearms officer sets out on duty intent with ending a life,” Sir Mark said, speaking outside New Scotland Yard after the verdict. “Their sole purpose is the complete opposite, the protection and preservation of life.”
Blake shot through the windscreen of an Audi Q8
He said Mr Blake has paid a “huge personal and professional sacrifice” over the past two years since the shooting and that he worries about the lack of support officers receive.
“No police officer is above the law, but we have been clear that the system holding police to account is broken,” Sir Mark said.
“I worry about the lack of support officers face for doing their best, but most of all, I worry for the public. The more we crush the spirit of good officers, the less they can fight crime that risks London becoming less safe.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper added it was a “very difficult case” causing “deep concerns for communities, for police officers and of course causing real distress for the families most closely affected”.
She said it is imperative the jury’s decision is “respected and everyone is given the space to process the verdict”.
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Chris Kaba verdict: Met reaction
Conservative leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick called Mr Blake a “hero” adding that his prosecution was “wrong”.
“The ordeal he [Mr Blake] has gone through, unthinkable. We must back our brave police officers, and not drag them through the courts for making split-second decisions,” Mr Jenrick said.
‘I think there is police behind me’
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.
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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.
Mr Kaba’s mother Helen Lumuanganu (left), outside the Old Bailey. Pic: PA
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.
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.”
Chris Kaba’s father and mother
Chris Kaba was shot dead on 5 September
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 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,” Ms Rowe 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.”
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.
A woman who is under police investigation after assisting the suicide of her husband at Dignitas in Switzerland has told Sky News she has no regrets.
Louise Shackleton has spoken publicly for the first time since her husband’s death in December, as parliament prepares to vote again on legislation to introduce assisted dying in England and Wales.
Mrs Shackleton surrendered herself to police after returning from Switzerland having seen her husband Anthony die. He had been suffering with motor neurone disease for six years.
“I have committed a crime, which I have admitted to, of assisting him by simply pushing him on to a plane and being with him, which I don’t regret for one moment. He was my husband and I loved him,” she said.
“We talked at length over two years about this. What he said to me on many occasions is ‘look at my options, look at what my options are. I can either go there and I can die peacefully, with grace, without pain, without suffering or I could be laid in a bed not being able to move, not even being able to look at anything unless you move my head’.
“He didn’t have options. What he wanted was nothing more than a good death.”
The law in the UK prohibits people from assisting in the suicide of others, but prosecutions have been rare.
Louise Shackleton has spoken publicly for the first time since her husband Anthony’s death
In a statement, a North Yorkshire Police spokesman told Sky News: “The investigation is ongoing. There is nothing further to add at this stage.”
The next vote on the assisted dying bill for England and Wales has been delayed by three weeks to give MPs time to consider amendments.
The legislation would permit a person who is terminally ill with less than six months to live to legally end their life after approval by two doctors and an expert panel.
‘He was at total peace with his decision’
Mrs Shackleton says she saw her husband “physically and mentally” relax once on the flight to Switzerland.
She said: “We had the most wonderful four days.
“He was laughing. He was at total peace with his decision.
“It was in those four days that I realised that he wanted the peaceful death more than he wanted to suffer and stay with me, which was hard, but that’s how resolute he was in having this peace.
“I was his wife, we’d been together 25 years, we’d known each other since we were 18. I couldn’t do anything else but help him.”
‘We need to safeguard people’
She said the hardest part of the journey came after her husband’s death.
“There was this panic and this fear that I was leaving him,” she said. “That was a horrific experience.
“If the law had changed in this country, I would have been with family, family would have been with us, family would’ve been with him. But as it was, that couldn’t happen.”
Opponents to the assisted dying bill have raised concerns about the safety of vulnerable people and the risk of coercion and a change in attitudes toward the elderly, seriously ill and disabled.
They say improvements to palliative care should be a priority.
“I think that we need to safeguard people,” said Mrs Shackleton. “I think that sometimes we need to suffer other people’s choices, and when I mean suffer I mean we have to acknowledge that whilst we’re not comfortable with those, that we need to respect other people, other people wishes.”
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Anthony, who died aged 59, was a furniture restorer who had earned worldwide recognition for making rocking horses.
“I think the measure of the man is that nobody has ever said a bad word about him in the whole of his life because he was just so caring and giving,” his widow said.
‘This is about a dying person’s choice’
She said she had chosen to speak publicly because of a promise she had made him.
“I felt that my husband’s journey shouldn’t be in vain. We discussed this on our last day and my husband made me promise to tell his story.
“He told me to fight and the simple thing that I’m fighting for is people to have the choice.
“This is about a dying person’s choice to either follow their journey through with disease or to die peacefully when they want to, on their terms, and have a good death. It’s that simple.”
UK
Feminists ‘feel braver about speaking out’ after gender ruling – but critics say it ‘stokes culture war’
A former Labour MP who quit the party over Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership has welcomed the landmark Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman as a “victory for feminists”.
Rosie Duffield, now the independent MP for Canterbury, said the judgment helped resolve the “lack of clarity” that has existed in the politics around the issue “for years”.
She was speaking to Ali Fortescue on the Politics Hub on the same day the UK’s highest court delivered its verdict on one of the most contentious debates in politics.
Politics latest: MPs respond to Supreme Court ruling on gender
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How do you define a woman in law?
The judges were asked to rule on how “sex” is defined in the 2010 Equality Act – whether that means biological sex or “certificated” sex, as legally defined by the 2004 Gender Recognition Act.
Their unanimous decision was that the definition of a “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refers to “a biological woman and biological sex”.
Asked what she made about comments by fellow independent MP John McDonnell – who said the court “failed to hear the voice of a single trans person” and that the decision “lacked humanity and fairness” as a result, she said: “This ruling doesn’t affect trans people in the slightest.
“It’s about women’s rights – women’s rights to single sex spaces, women’s rights, not to be discriminated against.
“It literally doesn’t change a single thing for trans rights and that lack of understanding from a senior politician about the law is a bit worrying, actually.”
However, Maggie Chapman, a Scottish Green MSP, disagreed with Ms Duffield and said she was “concerned” about the impact the ruling would have on trans people “and for the services and facilities they have been using and have had access to for decades now”.
Susan Smith and Marion Calder, directors of For Women Scotland celebrate after the ruling. Pic: Reuters
“One of the grave concerns that we have with this ruling is that it will embolden people to challenge trans people who have every right to access services,” she said.
“We know that over the last few years… their [trans people’s] lives have become increasingly difficult, they have been blocked from accessing services they need.”
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‘Today’s ruling only stokes the culture war further’
Delivering the ruling at the London court on Wednesday, Lord Hodge said: “But we counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. It is not.
Campaigners celebrate outside the Supreme Court. Pic: PA
“The Equality Act 2010 gives transgender people protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender.
“This is the application of the principle of discrimination by association. Those statutory protections are available to transgender people, whether or not they possess a gender recognition certificate.”
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Asked whether she believed the judgment could “draw a line” under the culture war, Ms Chapman told Fortescue: “Today’s judgment only stokes that culture war further.”
And she said that while Lord Hodge was correct to say there were protections in law for trans people in the 2020 Equality Act, the judgment “doesn’t prevent things happening”.
“It may offer protections once bad things have happened, once harassment, once discrimination, once bigotry, once assaults have happened,” she said.
She also warned some groups “aren’t going to be satisfied with today’s ruling”.
“We know that there are individuals and there are groups who actually want to roll back even further – they want to get rid of the Gender Recognition Act from 2004,” she said.
“I think today’s ruling just emboldens those views.”
Arsenal have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League after a dramatic victory over holders Real Madrid in Spain.
The north London side, who became the first English team to win twice at the Bernabeu following their triumph there 19 years ago, will face Paris Saint-Germain in the last four after the French side beat Aston Villa on Tuesday.
It is the third time the Gunners have made it through to the semis of the top club football tournament in Europe, and the first since 2009.
Arsenal went into the second leg of their quarter-final clash on Wednesday with a 3-0 lead.
Backed by a raucous home crowd, Madrid tried to get off to a strong start and Kylian Mbappe scored after two minutes. However, the goal was disallowed for a clear offside.
Arsenal had the chance to go ahead in the 13th minute but winger Bukayo Saka missed a penalty.
The Spanish hosts were awarded a penalty of their own about 10 minutes later when Mbappe stumbled under pressure from Declan Rice in the box – but the decision was overturned by VAR.
Saka atoned for his tepid penalty as he chipped the ball past Madrid’s keeper Thibaut Courtois when put through on goal by auxiliary striker Mikel Merino in the 65th minute.
But Arsenal were pegged back just two minutes later as Vinicius Junior caught William Saliba dawdling on the ball and fired Real Madrid level.
Arsenal’s resolute defending kept the home side at bay until Gabriel Martinelli made a late break through the home side’s defence to put his side 2-1 ahead three minutes into injury time, as the Gunners made it 5-1 on aggregate.
(L-R) Arsenal’s Declan Rice and Mikel Merino celebrate after the defeat against Real Madrid. Pic: AP
‘We knew we were going to win’, says Rice
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has insisted his team are intent on winning the Champions League after their victory in Madrid.
Speaking to TNT Sport, Rice, who was named player of the match, said: “It’s such a special night, a historic one for the club. We have the objective of playing the best and winning the competition.
“We had so much belief and confidence from that first leg and came here to win the game. We knew we were going to suffer but we knew we were going to win. We had it in our minds, then we did it [in] real life. What a night.
“I knew when I signed, this club was on an upward trajectory. It’s been tough in the Premier League but in this competition we’ve done amazingly well.
“It’s PSG next, who are an amazing team.”
‘We have to be very proud of ourselves’, says Arteta
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta told TNT Sport: “One of the best nights in my football career.
“We played against a team with the biggest history.
“To be able to win the tie in the manner we have done, I think we have to be very proud of ourselves.”
He added: “The history we have in this competition is so short. The third time in our history of what we have just done and we have to build on that. All this experience is going to help us, for sure.”
Real Madrid were seeking their third Champions League title in four seasons.
Mbappe twisted ankle
Their forward Mbappe twisted his right ankle during the game and was jeered by part of the crowd when his substitution was announced after a lacklustre performance.
The French star, who is still looking for his first Champions League title, was replaced by Brahim Diaz in the 75th minute following his injury. He was able to walk off the pitch by himself, but was limping slightly.
The other semi-final will be between Barcelona and Inter Milan.
The first legs are set to be played on 29 and 30 April, with the second legs on 6 and 7 May.
The final will be on 31 May.
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