Met backs review of findings into shooting dead of robbery suspect Azelle Rodney

 
Aftermath: forensics officers at the scene in Edgware after Azelle Rodney, inset, was shot dead by police
Staff|Pa13 August 2013
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Scotland Yard is backing a bid for a judicial review of a public inquiry that found a police marksman had "no lawful justification" for shooting a suspected armed robber.

An officer, known only as E7, killed Azelle Rodney, 24, in Edgware, north London, in 2005 after the car in which he was travelling with two other men was stopped by armed police.

Last month former judge Sir Christopher Holland found that the shooting was not legally justified and that E7's accounts of what he saw in the seconds before opening fire should not be accepted.

Last week lawyers for the officer applied for a judicial review, and this is now being backed by the Met, despite the force accepting some of Sir Christopher's findings following a three-month public inquiry.

Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said: "There are certain technical issues that the officer E7 has made in his judicial review. We don't support absolutely all of them but we support many of them."

Lawyers for E7 have served a claim for a judicial review on Sir Christopher, seeking a declaration that his conclusions relating to E7's use of force are "irrational", or an order quashing parts of the report that conclude the officer's use of force was not justified.

When Rodney was shot, police feared he and two other men were on their way to rob Colombian drug dealers and had an automatic weapon capable of firing 1,000 rounds per minute.

E7 was the front passenger in a police car that drew up beside the trio's Golf, and opened fire within a second of coming to a halt.

Rodney was shot six times, once each in the arm and back, and, fatally, four times in the head.

E7 could face criminal trial and prosecutors are considering whether to bring charges.

The Commissioner released a statement saying: "We continue to accept the recommendations concerning firearms operations made by Sir Christopher Holland and regret the death of Azelle Rodney.

"Now that E7 has issued judicial review proceedings we have considered these in detail and it is clear there are some aspects of his application that we will be supporting.

"This includes the latitude that must be given to officers acting in good faith who make split-second decisions under pressure."

The force has also submitted a report to the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime to recommend that funding for E7's legal costs continues.

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