The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has published a report into the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). The report has found no indication of wrongdoing or misconduct for any armed officer involved in the police operation.
On 4 August 2011, Mr Duggan was shot four times by one of the MPS officers who stopped the vehicle he was in on suspicion that he was in possession of an illegal firearm. During the inquest, which concluded on 8 January 2014, the jury was asked to consider whether there was a firearm in the vehicle with Mr Duggan and how the gun came to be approximately fourteen feet away from his body. Throughout the course of the inquest, members of the jury heard a number of theories about how the firearm ended up a considerable distance away from Mr Duggan’s body. The jury concluded, by a majority of nine jurors to one, that Mr Duggan threw the firearm onto the grass. Eight concluded that he did so prior to any of the officers being on the pavement.
The report by the IPCC, which concludes that Mr Duggan was in the process of throwing the weapon when he was shot, therefore directly contradicts the jury’s finding.
The inquest verdict of lawful killing is currently the subject of an ongoing judicial review which is due to be heard in the Court of Appeal in October 2015. The family contend that the jury were misdirected in law by the Coroner.
There has been significant media coverage of the Mark Duggan inquest and the reaction of the Mark Duggan family to the IPCC report, including by the Guardian and the BBC.
At the inquest into Mr Duggan’s death, his loved ones were represented by Leslie Thomas QC and Mike Mansfield QC who were jointly leading Adam Straw of Doughty Street Chambers and Una Morris, then a Pupil Barrister at Garden Court Chambers. Both Leslie and Una are members of Garden Court’s Claims Against the Police and Public Authorities Team.
