Lethal force Row over use of police powers is likely to intensify

After the Met officer Martyn Blake was charged in 2023 with killing Chris Kaba, scores of his colleagues put down their guns in protest.

- Vikram Dodd

But the outrage was not limited to the rank and file: the then home secretary, Suella Braverman, publicly condemned the decision, and was followed by the Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley. This, in turn, led to an emergency legal hearing to address concerns about prejudicing the coming trial. And now, after a murder trial has ended in Blake's acquittal, the row is likely to intensify further.

The killing of Kaba, 24, in south London on 5 September 2022 was the latest chapter in a long debate over how Britain deals with fatal shootings by agents of the state. In the past, they have led to the worst riots to blight England since the war and mental anguish for those involved. There has also been pressure for reform of criminal and human rights laws - and how those using state-sanctioned lethal powers are held to account.

But the loudest voices in Blake's defence will say he was mistreated, and that firearms officers need greater protections against prosecution. Police chiefs have been pressing for this and the government is considering whether to act, the Guardian understands. Those outraged by Blake's treatment view him as a dedicated public servant, put through the indignity of a murder trial. Blake's picture cannot be published and he fought to remain anonymous.