Chris Kaba shooting: Police officer not guilty of murder

A police officer has been cleared of murdering a man he shot in the head in south London two years ago.

Martyn Blake, 40, shot Chris Kaba, who was unarmed, during a police vehicle stop in Streatham in September 2022.

The officer denied intending to kill the 24-year-old.

As the jury’s decision was read out the defendant took a deep breath, but otherwise did not react to the not guilty verdict.

Following the verdict, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: “No police officer is above the law, but we have been clear that the system holding police to account is broken.”

During the trial at the Old Bailey, the court heard Mr Kaba was due to be a father.

He died from a single gunshot wound, which was fired through the windscreen of an Audi Q8.

After the verdict was read out, Mr Kaba’s cousin could be seen shaking her head.

One of his relatives could be seen rocking backwards and forwards, and the group later walked away from the courtroom in silence, accompanied by their police family liaison officer.

Mr Justice Goss thanked the jury of nine men and three women following the verdict on Monday, saying they displayed diligence and care during the trial.

Earlier in the trial, Mr Blake told the court: “I had a genuine belief that there was an imminent threat to life.

“If I hadn’t of acted I thought one of the colleagues would have been dead.”

Jurors heard that Mr Kaba drove backwards and forwards trying to ram his way free, which Mr Blake said made him believe one of his colleagues was about to die, and so he opened fire to stop the car.

A fellow firearms officer known as DS87 said he would have taken a shot if Mr 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.

Sir Mark said Mr Blake had paid “a huge personal and professional sacrifice” over the past two years since the shooting.

He said the officer had made “a split second decision on what he believed was necessary to protect his colleagues and to protect London”.

Sir Mark also criticised at the systems used to hold police officers who take lethal shots to account.

“I worry about the lack of support officers face for doing their best, but most of all, I worry for the public,” he said.

“The more we crush the spirit of good officers, the less they can fight crime – that risks London becoming less safe.”

The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), will now consider whether Mr Blake should face a disciplinary hearing.

IOPC director Amanda Rowe said: “The past few weeks must have been incredibly difficult and distressing for Chris’s family who have sat through the trial, listened to all the evidence and witnessed his final moments played out in court.

“We also recognise the impact that this trial has had on the officer involved, as well as his firearms colleagues and the wider policing community.”

She added: “We appreciate this trial will have been of significant public interest, and particularly so within our Black communities.”

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Frank Ferguson, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said the decision to prosecute was made “after an in-depth consideration of all the available evidence”.

He said: “We recognise that firearms officers operate under enormous pressure, but it is our responsibility to put cases before a jury that meet our test for prosecution, and we are satisfied that test was met in this case.

“It is therefore right that the case was put before the jury for them to scrutinise and to decide.”