Firearms officer may have been 'angry and annoyed' in fatal shooting, court hears

A Metropolitan Police firearms officer may have been "angry, frustrated and annoyed" when he shot Chris Kaba in the head through the windscreen of a car, a court has heard.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN

The Old Bailey heard it was “not necessary” for operational firearms commander Martyn Blake to fire his gun after police had boxed in the 24-year-old driver. Mr Blake, 40, denies murdering Mr Kaba during a police stop in Streatham, south London, on 5 September 2022.

Opening the murder trial yesterday, prosecutor Tom Little KC told the jury there is “unassailable evidence” which reveals the shooting was “not reasonably justified or justifiable”.

“For a firearms officer to shoot and kill it should, understandably, be a remedy of last resort,” he told the court. “The body-worn footage … and footage from cameras on police vehicles … reveals, we say, that it was not necessary to shoot.

“The immediate risk to both the defendant and his fellow officers at the scene did not, we say, justify at the point when the trigger was pulled – it didn’t justify firing a bullet into the vehicle that Chris Kaba was driving.”