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Firearms officers on trial over police shootings will not be named during criminal proceedings, the home secretary has announced.

Yvette Cooper announced a review into the accountability of firearms officers and confidence in policing after police marksman Martyn Blake was cleared by a jury on Monday of the murder of Chris Kaba in Streatham, south London, in September 2022.

Mr Blake, 40, fired a single bullet through the windscreen of the Audi Q8 that 24-year-old Kaba was driving as armed officers surrounded the car while he tried to escape.

The Metropolitan Police firearms officer was named for the first time in March this year as a judge lifted an anonymity order after media organisations challenged the legal application to protect his identity.

Before that, he had been known by the codename NX121 after threats were made against him, and he is reportedly now living in hiding, fearing for his life and his family after a £10,000 bounty was offered in revenge for Kaba’s death to anyone prepared to kill him.

Ms Cooper said officers will now remain anonymous until they are convicted and said the ruling will be part of an upcoming crime and policing bill.

She told the House of Commons: “When officers act in the most dangerous situations on behalf of the state it is vital that those officers and their families are not put in further danger during any subsequent legal proceedings, so we will therefore introduce a presumption of anonymity for firearms officers subject to criminal trial following a police shooting in the course of their professional duties, up to the point of conviction.”

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Yvette Cooper
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Yvette Cooper

Ms Cooper said Kaba’s death and the trial of Mr Blake were held against “a backdrop of fallen community confidence in policing and the criminal justice system across the country”.

There is “lower confidence among black communities”, she said.

The home secretary acknowledged Kaba’s parents and family “continue to experience deep grief and distress” and said it is “imperative that the jury’s verdict is respected” as she called for Mr Blake and his family to be “given the time and space…to recover from what must have been an immensely difficult experience”.

Read more:
Why did Chris Kaba’s killer stand trial?

Chris Kaba was ‘core member’ of gang and ‘gunman in nightclub shooting’ days before death

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Chris Kaba was linked to a shooting in a club

She also announced:

• Statutory footing for the Independent Office of Police Conduct’s (IOPC) victims’ right to review scheme

• The threshold for referral of police officers to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to be same as when police refer cases involving members of the public – currently it is lower for police

• The IOPC will be allowed to send cases to the CPs where there is sufficient evidence to do so, instead of having to wait for a final investigation report

• The director of public prosecutions will review CPS guidance on charging police officers for offences committed while on duty

• The College of Policing will be asked to establish a database of “lessons learned” where deaths or serious injury has happened after police contact or pursuits

• Police officers found guilty of “certain criminal offences” will be automatically found to have committed gross misconduct and will be “promptly” dismissed if they fail vetting

• Officers will be suspended if they are under investigation for domestic abuse or sexual offences.

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After six months of planning, Reform’s immigration policy is as clear as mud

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After six months of planning, Reform's immigration policy is as clear as mud

Reform’s plan was meant to be detailed. Instead, there’s more confusion.

The party had grown weary of the longstanding criticism that their tough talk on immigration did not come with a full proposal for what they would do to tackle small boats if they came to power.

So, after six months of planning, yesterday they attempted to put flesh on to the bones of their flagship policy.

Politics latest: Farage rows back on pledge to deport illegal migrant women and girls

At an expensive press conference in a vast airhanger in Oxford, the headline news was clear: Reform UK would deport anyone who comes here by small boat, arresting, detaining and then deporting up to 600,000 people in the first five years of governing.

They would leave international treaties and repeal the Human Rights Act to do it

But, one day later, that policy is clear as mud when it comes to who this would apply to.

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Nigel Farage launched an airport-style departures board to illustrate how many illegal migrants have arrived in the UK. Pic: PA
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Nigel Farage launched an airport-style departures board to illustrate how many illegal migrants have arrived in the UK. Pic: PA

I asked Farage at the time of the announcement whether this would apply to women and girls – an important question – as the basis for their extreme policy seemed to hinge on the safety of women and girls in the UK.

He was unequivocal: “Yes, women and children, everybody on arrival will be detained.

“And I’ve accepted already that how we deal with children is a much more complicated and difficult issue.”

But a day later, he appeared to row back on this stance at a press conference in Scotland, saying Reform is “not even discussing women and children at this stage”.

Read more:
Farage has a new ‘leave’ campaign – here’s how it could work

He later clarified that if a single woman came by boat, then they could fall under the policy, but if “a woman comes with children, we will work out the best thing to do”.

A third clarification in the space of 24 hours on a flagship policy they worked on over six months seems like a pretty big gaffe, and it only feeds into the Labour criticism that these plans aren’t yet credible.

If they had hoped to pivot from rhetoric to rigour, this announcement showed serious pitfalls.

But party strategists probably will not be tearing out too much hair over this, with polling showing Reform UK still as the most trusted party on the issue of immigration overall.

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Crypto trader ups MEXC ‘bounty’ to $2.5M after in-person KYC request

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Crypto trader ups MEXC ‘bounty’ to .5M after in-person KYC request

Crypto trader ups MEXC ‘bounty’ to .5M after in-person KYC request

The “White Whale” increased his social media pressure campaign to $2.5 million after claiming that MEXC requested an in-person KYC verification in Malaysia.

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US appeals time served sentences for HashFlare Ponzi schemers

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US appeals time served sentences for HashFlare Ponzi schemers

US appeals time served sentences for HashFlare Ponzi schemers

Prosecutors appealed the sentences given to HashFlare founders Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin, after arguing the pair should get 10 years in prison.

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