Met Police marksman who shot Chris Kaba is called: Anonymity order defending identification of armed officer is lifted forward of homicide trial

The Metropolitan Police marksman who’s accused of murdering Chris Kaba has been named for the primary time right now.

Officer Martyn Blake, 40, who was charged with Mr Kaba’s homicide in September final yr, had solely been recognized as NX121 till now.

Recorder of London Mark Lucraft KC dominated that naming him, as is regular follow in prison instances involving grownup defendants, posed no actual or rapid danger to his life or that of his household.

His residence handle or any picture or description of him can’t be revealed.

Members of Mr Kaba’s household have been in court docket on the Outdated Bailey on Friday because the officer was publicly named for the primary time.

Showing within the dock, Blake spoke to substantiate his identify and date of start, and entered a not responsible plea to the cost of homicide.

Mr Kaba, a 24-year-old unarmed black man, was fatally shot in Streatham Hill, south London, on September 5 2022.

The daddy-to-be died from a single gunshot wound to the top after the Audi he was driving was blocked in by a police car. 

The deadly capturing sparked an outpouring of each grief and anger as protesters together with rapper Stormzy took to the streets of London demanding ‘Justice for Chris Kaba’.

Blake was charged with homicide on September 20, however District Choose Nina Tempia put an anonymity order in place forward of additional hearings on the Outdated Bailey in London.

It was initially dominated that the officer’s identify and date of start might be made public from January 30 – however this was delayed to March 1 after which March 8. 

The choice to establish Blake has sparked a revolt from the marksman’s colleagues on the Met Police.

Final month it was revealed that a whole bunch of armed officers had abandoned the Met’s firearms unit in simply six months after their colleague was charged with Mr Kaba’s homicide.

The quantity carrying weapons dropped by greater than 250 between April and December 2023 amid widespread anger inside the power over resourcing and disciplinary procedures.

Solely 22 armed officers left within the 12-month interval main as much as March 2023. 

In September, dozens handed of their weapons in protest over the choice to cost their colleague with homicide. 

The Met Police confirmed on the time that ‘a quantity’ of the officer’s colleagues had stepped again from armed duties over fears about how future police shootings could also be judged by the CPS.

After the slew of Autumn resignations led to the Military being placed on standby, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley pledged to push for brand spanking new safeguards together with fewer and speedier investigations into alleged police wrongdoing. 

After the choose initially dominated final yr that Blake might be named, Steve Hartshorn, chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), mentioned: ‘PFEW is critically involved and bitterly disenchanted in regards to the potential ramifications of publishing the officer’s identify and date of start.

‘We all know that this concern is shared by many officers of all ranks and roles throughout the nation, however extra so on the earth of armed policing as they perceive the risk and danger taken within the safety of the general public extra so than others.

‘Officers should not trying to be above the legislation, however they will need to have confidence that they’ve the safety wanted to do the troublesome and harmful job society expects of them.’

The Met’s Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist referred to as the transfer ‘vastly regarding’ for officers regardless of taking ‘critically the open justice precept’. 

Mr Kaba was adopted by an unmarked police automobile with no lights or sirens turned on within the minutes earlier than the capturing.

After his Audi drove down Kirkstall Gardens, Streatham Hill, he was blocked by a marked police car and there was ‘contact’ between the 2 vehicles, the court docket heard, earlier than a marksman fired a single shot by means of the windscreen, hitting Mr Kaba within the head.

The car had been linked by police to a firearms incident the day past. Mr Kaba was unarmed and was not being handled as a suspect on the time, an inquest heard.

Following the killing, the police watchdog, the Unbiased Workplace for Police Conduct (IOPC), carried out a homicide investigation.

And on September 20 final yr, the CPS introduced it had authorised a homicide cost to be issued in opposition to a police officer.

Mr Kaba’s heartbroken household have been demanding motion and claimed the officer alleged to have shot their son should face prison fees. 

In a joint assertion when the officer had been charged with homicide, Mr Kaba’s household mentioned ‘Chris was so very beloved by our household and all his associates. He had a brilliant future forward of him, however his life was minimize quick. Our household and our wider neighborhood should see justice for Chris.

‘We welcome this charging choice, which couldn’t have come too quickly. Now we await the trial of the firearms officer at once and hope and pray that justice will likely be served.’

When Stozmy joined protesters in help of Mr Kaba’s household in September 2022, he mentioned: ‘Chris has a mom, he has a household, he has brothers, he has associates, individuals who knew him in actual life, who for them, it is insufferable.’

The officer’s trial is about to start on October 1 – greater than two years after the alleged homicide.