Met Police officer who shot dead Chris Kaba found not guilty of murder

A police officer who shot dead a black man in south London after he tried to ram his way out of a police roadblock has been cleared of his murder.

Martyn Blake, a Scotland Yard armed officer, fired a single shot through the windscreen of Chris Kaba’s Audi Q8 killing him, when he tried to escape after being stopped by police in Streatham on the evening of 5 September 2022.

While Kaba’s identity was not known at the time, the vehicle had been linked to two previous firearms incidents including a shooting outside a primary school the night before.

Despite this Mr Blake, 40, who had an unblemished record with the Metropolitan Police, was charged with murder with prosecutors claiming his actions had not been “reasonably justified”.

The decision to charge him followed a lengthy investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and consideration by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

However following a three week trial at the Old Bailey a jury took three hours to find him not guilty of murder.

The verdict was greeted with relief by Mr Blake’s colleagues, friends and family, but will lead to inevitable questions about why he was ever charged in the first place.

Despite being cleared of the criminal charge, Mr Blake could still have to face a gross misconduct hearing which could result in him being sacked.

Mr Blake told jurors he genuinely feared for the lives of his colleagues, when Kaba attempted to ram his way through a roadblock in a residential street.

He also told jurors he had not intended to kill Kaba but had simply wanted to stop the car driving at his colleagues.

The trial heard from several of Mr Blake’s armed colleagues who said they too would have opened fire if they had been in the same position on the night.