I was cop tried for murder just like Martyn Blake – it is a travesty that he was ever charged with Chris Kaba murder
A GOOD man is free today thanks to the common sense of 12 members of the public.
But make no mistake, Sergeant Martyn Blake was betrayed by the law he has sworn to uphold.
It was a travesty of justice that Martyn was ever charged with murder after fatally shooting Chris Kaba.
The prosecution claimed Martyn may have been angry, frustrated or annoyed with Mr Kaba because he was refusing to get out of his car.
But I do not believe there was a shred of evidence to back this up and there was nothing in the Crown’s case to suggest Martyn did anything wrong.
He acted as he saw fit in the circumstances to protect colleagues at serious risk from Mr Kaba trying to ram his car free.
It is unfair to expect officers to carry firearms for the protection of the public and then treat them as a criminal when they use them.
I am not suggesting that police officers should not be accountable — but they need to be treated fairly.
This has not been the case in this instance and Sgt Blake was scapegoated for doing the job he was trained to do.
I believe the Crown Prosecution Service charged him with murder because it was afraid of a community backlash if it did not.
The evidence was basically non-existent but the CPS and the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which investigated the shooting, bottled it.
The right verdict
They acted like Pontius Pilate, washed their hands of it and left it to nine men and three women from the Clapham omnibus to make their decision.
The jury quickly delivered the right verdict but any experienced officer knows from their service that trials can be a lottery.
We have all seen cases where those who are absolutely guilty are acquitted and defendants can be convicted with very little evidence.
However confident you are as a police officer in your decision-making, you cannot be certain 12 members of the public will see it your way.
For a police officer, that is a very scary prospect.
The pressure on them and their family is huge.
When Martyn went to the Old Bailey on Monday he did not know if he would be going home to his family that night or to a prison cell to start a life sentence.
When I stood trial for murder in 2015 after shooting Azelle Rodney dead ten years earlier, I thought I coped with the pressure well.
But on the day after I was acquitted at the Old Bailey, I broke down and cried like a baby for an hour.
You try to suppress the fear and emotion but eventually the dam breaks open.
Martyn remained calm throughout his trial but you would not be human if you did not feel the pressure.
His whole life, and that of his family, has been turned upside down.
He had his anonymity taken away from him after being charged.
Yet Chris Kaba was not allowed to be identified as the gunman who had earlier opened fire in a nightclub, for which members of his gang were tried.
That is a real insult.
The jury who tried Martyn were kept in the dark about who Chris Kaba was.
That was unfair.
Mr Kaba’s crimes in the week before his death explained exactly why he behaved the way he did to get away from police.
Mr Khan has tried to promote justice for the Kaba family but after Martyn’s acquittal he stressed the need for armed officers
Tony Long
To some people he was seen as the British George Floyd and the case was championed as a cause célèbre.
On the day the IOPC sent its file to the CPS, London Mayor Sadiq Khan issued a statement saying the community desired change and justice.
Mr Khan has tried to promote justice for the Kaba family but after Martyn’s acquittal he stressed the need for armed officers.
The case was a political hot potato and I can’t help wondering whether such comments influenced the CPS in its decision to charge Martyn.
I think in his case, like my own, prosecutors took the easy option.
I do not believe either Martyn or I would have been charged with murder if the people we shot had been terrorists or white criminals.
Serious impact
There now needs to be serious change in the way such cases are approached in future.
When something goes wrong in the NHS, the automatic response is to try to prevent something similar happening again.
The first instinct is not to prosecute a clinician — but with policing it is different.
The IOPC is not fit for purpose and needs to start again.
It is not trusted by the police or the community to do the right thing.
Firearms officers are extremely angry about what has happened to Martyn.
It is having a serious impact on the number of officers leaving the firearms command.
The Commissioner recently said a quarter of armed officers are planning to quit their role, and very few are volunteering.
Eventually there will not be enough volunteers to cover policing armed response.
It will then become compulsory for officers to carry firearms, and that will endanger police and the public alike.