Chris Kaba

Changes to law would give police ‘licence to kill’, UK rights groups warn

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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/09/changes-to-law-armed-police-uk-accountability-review

Later this year, new laws will be introduced giving anonymity to firearms officers who shoot someone, unless they are convicted. Photograph: Grant Rooney Premium/Alamy

Review into accountability soon to report as police seek greater protection from prosecution over use of force

Police want changes to the law giving them “a licence to kill”, leading rights groups have warned as the government prepares to give officers new protections from prosecution.

A government-ordered review into police accountability is expected to report within weeks. It followed fears of a walkout by angry armed officers in London after a police marksman, Martyn Blake, was tried for murder over the shooting of Chris Kaba. Blake was acquitted in October by a jury in three hours.

Police say they want the system to be fairer and protect officers who use force as part of their duties. Rights groups believe the system holding police to account is already too weak, and diluting it would “undermine public trust”.

In a letter seen by the Guardian, groups including Inquest, the Centre for Women’s Justice, Liberty and Black Lives Matter warn the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, against weakening police accountability.

“This review is less a kneejerk reaction but rather a dangerous and calculated attempt to use a high-profile case to push for less scrutiny and accountability of police actions,” they said.

“The number of cases where police officers are prosecuted for a death is vanishingly small (since 1990 there has only been one successful prosecution of an officer for manslaughter and none for murder).

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/09/changes-to-law-armed-police-uk-accountability-review

Continue ReadingChanges to law would give police ‘licence to kill’, UK rights groups warn

Thoughts of the Day 29 October 2024

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Deputy Labour Party Leader Angela Rayner calls for police to kill and harass innocent people.
Deputy Labour Party Leader Angela Rayner calls for police to kill and harass innocent people.

There are news reports that Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott have been urged to apologise for backing gangster Chris Kaba after criticising police following his death. [ed: uncertain that he should be called a gangster.]

He was unarmed and police didn’t know who he was when he was killed. There were claims following his inquest that he had shot somebody 6 days previous to him getting killed by police. He was never tried of this alleged crime of course because he was dead. You can’t retrospectively justify his killing when an unarmed, unknown man was killed by armed police.

Continue ReadingThoughts of the Day 29 October 2024

Thoughts of the Day 23 October 2024

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Mainline media are being fundamentally dishonest in presenting the killing of Chris Kaba. There is a concerted attempt to further excuse armed police from killing people, that is what it’s about. For example, a hard traffic stop is presented as a traffic stop. A hard traffic stop is an intentional crash to sandwich a car between 2 others front and back. If I was subjected to a hard stop, I would then expect to be killed by armed men (police or army) and it’s certainly not unreasonable or unexpected to try to escape.

Deputy Labour Party Leader Angela Rayner calls for police to kill and harass innocent people.
Deputy Labour Party Leader Angela Rayner calls for police to kill and harass innocent people.

You already don’t need to be armed to be killed by armed police in UK. It helps no end if you’re black but I’ve know people to be killed because of their names. I don’t regard myself as black but can get a very deep tan. My father was once told to “Get back to where you came from” to which he replied “What, Ely?”. Ely is an area of Cardiff.

It’s not that difficult to ram hard into the back of the car in front – it happens many times every day.

Continue ReadingThoughts of the Day 23 October 2024

‘A failure for all those affected by police violence’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/a-failure-for-all-those-affected-by-police-violence

Helen Lumuanganu the mother of Chris Kaba hugs friends alongside Prosper Kaba (second from right) the father of Chris Kaba outside the Old Bailey, central London, October 15, 2024

CAMPAIGNERS were left outraged today after the police marksman who shot and killed Chris Kaba was cleared of his murder.

Martyn Blake, 40, had been on trial at the Old Bailey in London since October 2 after shooting the 24-year-old black man through the front windscreen of his car in Streatham in 2022.

The jury deliberated for about three hours today to clear Mr Blake as the family of Mr Kaba listened to the verdict in silence.

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Campaign group Save Our Citizenship called the verdict “another prime example of the extent of how deep-rooted racism manifests within the British injustice system.”

And the Women’s Equality Party said it is “both terrifying and outrageous to hear politicians say the police should be scrutinised less after they kill unarmed members of the public.”

Since 1990 there have been 1,904 deaths recorded by campaign group Inquest in or following police custody or contact.

In that time only one officer has been found guilty of manslaughter, in 2021, and none for murder.

In the 34 years, a total of 83 people were fatally shot by police in England and Wales.

Only three murder or manslaughter prosecutions were made, none with a guilty verdict.

Full article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/a-failure-for-all-those-affected-by-police-violence

Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner will be pleased that an innocent, unarmed man has been killed by police. That’s what she was calling for unless there’s a hidden meaning to her statements. [ed: That’s what she was calling for even if there is a hidden meaning to her statements.]

Deputy Labour Party Leader Angela Rayner calls for police to kill and harass innocent people.
Deputy Labour Party Leader Angela Rayner calls for police to kill and harass innocent people.

It’s disappointing that mainline media is promoting the idea that the killed man was a dangerous gunman. He was unarmed and trying to escape before he was killed by armed police.

Continue Reading‘A failure for all those affected by police violence’