Killing of Azelle Rodney

[2][3] In July 2013, a public inquiry found that the Specialist Firearms Officer who fired the fatal shots, Anthony Long, had "no lawful justification" for killing Rodney.

[8] A report compiled for the public inquiry later described Azelle Rodney as a mid-level career criminal at the time of the shooting and he was wanted by police in connection with two stabbings.

[8] On the night of 30 April 2005, Rodney was driven by associates Wesley Lovell and Frank Graham in a hired silver Volkswagen Golf.

It was later revealed at the trial of Lovell and Graham for drugs and firearms offences that they had been under police surveillance for two days and that the car had been tailed for several hours on 30 April.

[9] This occurred as the car was passing the Railway Tavern on Hale Lane in the London Borough of Barnet at 7:43 pm, the police using a manoeuvre known as a "hard stop".

John Yates, the Metropolitan Police's Deputy Assistant Commissioner at the time, said that "The situation facing our officer that evening clearly left him with no option than to take the course of action he did."

[7] On 2 August 2007, deputy coroner Andrew Walker, sitting at Hornsey North London, ruled that a full inquest into Rodney's death could not be held because of the large number of redactions in police officers' evidence statements.

[1] The redactions were made under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 which covers information obtained from covert surveillance including telephone taps and bugs.

The Rodney family's solicitor, Daniel Machover, said that he had written to the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice asking that the law be changed to allow the coroner to proceed with the inquest.

[18][19] In July 2013 the public inquiry concluded that the armed police officer who fired the fatal shots had "no lawful justification" for killing Rodney.

The inquiry found that 'E7', the officer who killed Rodney, "could not rationally be believed" and rejected his version of events which were contradicted by forensic evidence.

[2] 'E7', supported by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, applied to the High Court for a judicial review of the public inquiry,[21] claiming the Chair's conclusions were "irrational".

After the trial Long said, "Police firearms officers do not go out intending to shoot people and, like me in this case, have to make split-second life or death decisions based on the information available to them at the time".

In a statement, Scotland Yard said that the guns were "loaded and fully operational", however evidence given by the prosecution differed; it was stated that a Colt .45 pistol which Graham admitted to owning was on the back seat but had been deactivated and could not fire, while Lovell's pistol – which had been converted from a tear gas gun – was found inside a rucksack along with a loaded double-barrelled handgun.