Jury retires in trial of police marksman over fatal shooting of Chris Kaba

Jurors in the trial of a police marksman accused of the murder of Chris Kaba have retired to consider their verdicts.

Metropolitan Police firearms officer Martyn Blake, 40, fatally shot the 24-year-old through the windscreen of an Audi Q8 in Streatham, south London, on September 5 2022.

Hemmed in by marked and unmarked police cars, Mr Kaba drove the Audi backwards and forwards in an attempt to escape, the Old Bailey has heard.

The car had been used as a getaway vehicle in a shooting in nearby Brixton the night before, and was followed when a police officer recognised the number plate.

Officers did not know who was driving the car at the time.

The jury of nine men and three women was told by prosecutor Tom Little KC that Blake had misjud

ged the risk to his colleagues, and had aimed for Mr Kaba’s head when taking the fatal shot.

The prosecution claims the officer exaggerated the threat in statements following the shooting, incorrectly stating that the Audi had been driven towards him and a colleague.

Blake said the driver of an unmarked police Volvo could have been killed when the Audi reversed into it at 8mph, which prosecutors said was “a gross exaggeration”.

But the defendant told the court he genuinely believed one of his colleagues was about to die, and the only way he had to negate the threat was to shoot Mr Kaba.

A fellow firearms officer known as DS87 said he would have taken a shot if Blake had not, and another identified by the cypher E156 said he was “fractions of a second” away from doing the same.

Another, NX109, got the finger of his glove caught in the Audi’s door handle and just managed to wrench it free as it moved forward, telling the jury he thought he would be dragged between it and a Tesla parked nearby.

The jury retired at 11.45am on Monday.