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Azelle Rodney death: Met marksman loses High Court challenge | Azelle Rodney death: Met marksman loses High Court challenge |
(35 minutes later) | |
A Met Police marksman has lost his High Court bid to challenge a public inquiry finding he used excessive force when he killed a robbery suspect. | |
Last year, an inquiry decided there was "no lawful justification" for the marksman to have shot Azelle Rodney six times in Edgware, north London in 2005. | |
But lawyers for the officer, known as E7, said the finding was "irrational". | But lawyers for the officer, known as E7, said the finding was "irrational". |
E7 was seeking permission for a judicial review over the inquiry's conclusions. | E7 was seeking permission for a judicial review over the inquiry's conclusions. |
The inquiry chairman Sir Christopher Holland concluded Mr Rodney was unlawfully killed, a finding E7's lawyers described as "tantamount to murder". | |
But Sir Brian Leveson, president of the Queen's Bench Division, sitting with Mr Justice Irwin ruled there was "no value in granting permission" and refused the application. | |
Mr Rodney was shot after the car he was travelling with two other people was stopped by armed police. | |
Detectives say they had intelligence the 24-year-old was on his way to rob Colombian drug dealers. | |
E7 opened fire within a second of coming to a halt beside the car, hitting Mr Rodney once each in the arm and back and four times in the head. | |
Criminal charges | |
E7's justification for firing was that he "honestly believed" Mr Rodney was preparing to fire a machine gun. Sir Christopher, a High Court judge, rejected that claim. | |
Samantha Leek QC, representing E7, told the High Court earlier this month: "We say it is not a logical conclusion, either on the forensic or eyewitness evidence, that E7 did not honestly believe there was an imminent threat to his colleagues' lives." | |
But dismissing the point as "unarguable", Sir Brian said: "The hurdle of proving that Sir Christopher reached irrational conclusions on the facts is incapable of being surmounted." | |
The Met had backed his application for a judicial review which has been opposed by a legal team acting for Sir Christopher who have argued that E7's legal challenge was "untenable". | |
E7 could face criminal trial over Mr Rodney's death and prosecutors are considering whether to bring charges. |
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