Firearms officers accused of shooting someone dead will remain anonymous during trial, home secretary announces

Published

10 months ago

October 23, 2024

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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.”

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”.

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.

Politics

Nigel Farage dared me to walk in London after 9pm: Here’s my response

Published

4 hours ago

August 4, 2025

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Nigel Farage dared me to walk in London after 9pm: Here's my response

At a press conference today in which Reform UK announced the Tory police and crime commissioner for Leicestershire was joining their ranks, as well as former prison governor Vanessa Frake, I asked Nigel Farage a simple question.

But his answer wasn’t what I expected.

I asked the Reform UK leader if the six-week campaign on law and order, with the tagline “Britain is Lawless”, was in fact project fear scaring people into voting for his party.

He utterly rejected that claim and responded to me saying: “No, they are afraid. They are afraid. I dare you, I dare you to walk through the West End of London after 9 o’clock of an evening wearing jewellery. You wouldn’t do it. You know that I’m right. You wouldn’t do it.”

I am not afraid to walk in the West End of London after 9pm wearing jewellery.

I have done it many times before and will continue to do so… but perhaps that is because I do not own a Rolex.

However, just because Farage is wrong on that point, doesn’t mean he isn’t tapping into other legitimate fears across the country.

Snatch theft does worry me, hence why I now have a phone case with a strap attached to it that I can put around my body.

And I worry about knife crime in my area and what the impact could be if I were to have children – on the weekend someone was stabbed to death a stone’s throw from my house.

However, if we look at the statistics, it is invariably a more nuanced picture than Farage or social media might have us believe.

According to police reports, thefts from a person in London are almost five times the national average, and they’ve been going up since the pandemic.

And the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also notes that thefts outside of the home, eg phone snatching, has increased.

However, possession of weapons has fallen in London by 29% over the last three years.

And according to the ONS, crime in England and Wales is 30% lower than in 2015, and 76% lower than 1995.

And it is a similar picture for violent crime.

In short, am I right to be more worried that snatch theft and knife crime in London is increasing? Yes, and no.

But Nigel Farage is tapping into voters’ emotions – their feelings that the country is broken. It’s a picture the Conservative Party helped to create and the Labour Party happily painted to great effect during the general election campaign of 2024.

And the more politicians of all colours tell voters that “the system is broken”, the more voters might start to believe them.

That is what Nigel Farage is banking on.

Politics

Crypto funds see $223M outflow, ending 15-week streak as Fed dampens sentiment

Published

7 hours ago

August 4, 2025

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Crypto funds see 3M outflow, ending 15-week streak as Fed dampens sentiment

Profit-taking broke a 15-week winning streak of global cryptocurrency ETPs last week after hawkish remarks that followed last week’s US Fed rate decision.