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

Published

1 year 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

Prediction markets bet on Coinbase-linked Hassett as top Fed pick

Published

2 hours ago

December 1, 2025

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Prediction markets bet on Coinbase-linked Hassett as top Fed pick

Prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi view Kevin Hassett, US President Donald Trump’s National Economic Council director, as the favorite to replace Jerome Powell as the next Federal Reserve chair.

The odds of Hassett filling the seat have spiked to 66% on Polymarket and 74% on Kalshi at the time of writing. Hassett is widely viewed as crypto‑friendly thanks to his past role on Coinbase’s advisory council, a disclosed seven‑figure stake in the exchange and his leadership of the White House digital asset working group.

Founder and CEO of Wyoming-based Custodia Bank, and a prominent advocate for crypto-friendly regulations, Caitlin Long, commented on X:

“If this comes true & Hassett does become Fed chairman, anti-#crypto people at the Fed who still hold positions of power will finally be out (well, most of them anyway). BIG changes will be coming to the Fed.”

Kevin Hassett’s crypto credentials

Hassett is a long-time Republican policy economist who returned to Washington as Trump’s top economic adviser and has now emerged as the market-implied frontrunner to lead the Fed.

His financial disclosure reveals at least a seven‑figure Coinbase stake and compensation for serving on the exchange’s Academic and Regulatory Advisory Council, placing him unusually close to the crypto industry for a potential Fed chair.

Still, crypto has been burned before by reading too much into “crypto‑literate” resumes. Gary Gensler arrived at the Securities and Exchange Commission with MIT blockchain courses under his belt, but went on to preside over a wave of high‑profile enforcement actions, some of which critics branded as “Operation Chokepoint 2.0.”

A Hassett-led Fed might be more open to experimentation and less reflexively hostile to bank‑crypto activity. Still, the institution’s mandate on financial stability means markets should not assume a one‑way bet on deregulation.

Supervision pushback inside the Fed

The Hassett odds have jumped just as the Fed’s own approach to bank supervision has received pushback from veterans like Fed Governor Michael Barr, who earned his reputation as one of Operation Chokepoint 2.0’s key architects.

According to Caitlin Long, while he Barr “was Vice Chairman of Supervision & Regulation he did Warren’s bidding,” and he “has made it clear he will oppose changes made by Trump & his appointees.”

On Nov. 18, the Fed released new Supervisory Operating Principles that shift examiners toward a “risk‑first” framework, directing staff to focus on material safety‑and‑soundness risks rather than procedural or documentation issues.

In a speech the same day, Barr warned that narrowing oversight, weakening ratings frameworks and making it harder to issue enforcement actions or matters requiring attention could leave supervisors slower to act on emerging risks, arguing that gutting those tools may repeat pre‑crisis mistakes.

Days later, in Consumer Affairs Letter 25‑1, the Fed clarified that the new Supervisory Operating Principles do not apply to its Consumer Affairs supervision program (an area under Barr’s committee as a governor).

If prediction markets are right and a crypto‑friendly Hassett inherits this landscape, his Fed would not be writing on a blank slate but stepping into an institution already mid‑pivot on how hard (and where) it leans on banks.