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The Metropolitan police armed officer cleared of murdering Chris Kaba should face a disciplinary hearing for gross misconduct, where he could face the sack for using excessive force, the police watchdog has decided.
The decision will provoke fury among Met firearms officers and among the force’s leadership.
Kaba was unarmed when he was shot once in the head through the windscreen of a car he was driving by Martyn Blake, then a sergeant, in south London in September 2022.
Kaba was a violent criminal caught on CCTV months earlier shooting a man in an east London nightclub. He was an alleged “core member” of the 67 gang.
Blake did not know this when he opened fire but testified that he feared the car Kaba was driving would run over officers after being boxed in by police.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) made the decision that Blake should face a gross misconduct hearing despite pressure to drop the case. There have been months of behind-the-scenes wrangling between the IOPC and Met, which opposes the decision. But in the end the police watchdog used its legal powers to direct that a hearing be held.
Blake has been promoted to inspector since his unanimous acquittal in about three hours by an Old Bailey jury, and returned to work after a two-year suspension.
The IOPC case will allege Blake should not have opened fire, given all the circumstances, and so the firing of a single shot amounted to excessive force.
Blake’s trial heard that in September 2022 in south London police stopped the Audi Kaba was driving not knowing who the driver was, only that it was potentially linked to a shooting the night before.
The Audi was forced to stop and was then surrounded by armed officers, who burst out from three police cars and tried to pull the suspect out.
Blake, who was in a police car that blocked the Audi from the front, said he opened fire fearing Kaba would pull an officer under its wheels or run them over, as their suspect tried to escape “at any cost” after being blocked in.
He said the car was being used as a weapon and he had fired in self-defence and also to protect his colleagues, with his primary aim being to “incapacitate” the driver, who was hunched low over the steering wheel.
The prosecution at the criminal trial said the Audi was blocked within seconds and could not have escaped nor run over officers at the point Blake shot. The prosecution accepted that Kaba made “concerted” efforts to escape, but his Audi’s top speed during the standoff was 12mph.
Fears of a walkout by armed officers in London if Blake had been found guilty of murder were so acute, advanced plans were devised by the government to send soldiers on to the streets to fill their roles.
The IOPC said it had reviewed its original decision that Blake should face a discipline hearing, and decided he should.
The police watchdog said the test for a discipline hearing was lower than for a criminal trial and added: “The guidance is also clear that where the case-to-answer test is met, there must be compelling reasons not to direct misconduct proceedings.”
The IOPC director Amanda Rowe said: “We understand the impact this decision will have on Chris Kaba’s family and Sgt Blake and acknowledge the significant public interest in this case, particularly among our Black communities, firearms officers and the wider policing community.
“The legal test for deciding whether there is a case to answer is low – is there sufficient evidence upon which, on the balance of probabilities, a disciplinary panel could make a finding of misconduct? This has been met and therefore we need to follow the legal process.”
The Met said it would get a chief officer from another police force to chair the hearing, and made clear its continued opposition and concerns for the continuing stress and burden on Blake, whom it refers to by the cypher NX121.
Assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor said: “NX121 made a split-second decision on what he believed was necessary to protect his colleagues and London.
“We know another lengthy process will fall heavily on the shoulders of NX121 and more widely our firearms officers, who continue to bravely and tirelessly police the streets of London every day to protect the public.”
“Now is not the time for debate and discussion about this case, it is important that we do not risk prejudicing NX121’s right to an impartial hearing.”
A date for an inquest into Kaba’s death is yet to be set. A government review is considering plans to make to harder to prosecute officers, with police claiming that too often they are being put through the ordeal of criminal trials or discipline hearings, simply for doing their duty.
