Officers will be granted anonymity in court if they are charged over a fatal police shooting in measures announced in the wake of an outcry over the Chris Kaba murder trial. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper unveiled plans for firearms officers facing criminal proceedings over police shootings to be granted a presumption of anonymity up until the point of a conviction.
The announcement comes after Sergeant Martyn Blake was said to have been forced into hiding after he was accused of murdering unarmed driver Mr Kaba in a police shooting.
A jury unanimously acquitted the officer after hearing the 24year-old tried to ram his way out of a police stop in Streatham, southwest London, on 5 September 2022. Sgt Blake was refused anonymity in the trial despite his lawyers arguing the officer was at risk of reprisal attacks from members of a violent London gang known as the “67”.
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