Met officer cleared of murder after shooting unarmed driver in head

Police anger that case came to trial - but family speaks of 'deep pain'

- Vikram Dodd

A Metropolitan police firearms officer who shot an unarmed suspect in the head has been acquitted of murder. Sgt Martyn Blake shot Chris Kaba in September 2022 after stopping his car on a residential street in Streatham, south London.

Kaba, 24, was being followed while driving an Audi that police believed was linked to a firearms incident the previous evening.

The unanimous not guilty verdict, which took just three hours to reach yesterday, fuelled police anger that he had ever been put on trial.

The decision to charge Blake, who had never fired a shot on duty before, had already infuriated his fellow firearms officers as well as the force's commissioner, Mark Rowley.

The commissioner branded the system "broken" as his officer walked free from the Old Bailey yesterday, with police chiefs lobbying ministers to make it harder for such a trial to happen again.

Police believe they have won a "policy package" from the government, the Guardian understands, as they press for reform of a system that they claim punishes them for doing their job. Kaba's family said they were "devastated" by the verdict in the face of "unimaginable grief", with his supporters saying it gave police "impunity" to kill.

His father, Prosper, had to be helped out of the courtroom after the verdict; another relative rocked back and forth.

A visibly relieved Blake, 40, exhaled as the decision was read out. Hours later the Met said that his suspension had been lifted. Blake was flanked by police colleagues as he left the courtroom.

The police watchdog will consider whether he should still face disciplinary action for gross misconduct, and an inquest is yet to conclude.