Officer could face gun death trial

A police marksman could face trial for gunning down a robbery suspect after a former judge found there was "no lawful justification" for killing the 24-year-old.

In a damning report, Sir Christopher Holland also said the officer, known only as E7, "could not rationally have believed" that Azelle Rodney had a gun when he opened fire.

Mr Rodney was killed in Edgware, north London, in 2005 after the car in which he was travelling with two other men was stopped by armed police.

They feared the trio were on their way to stage an armed heist on Colombian drug dealers and had an automatic weapon capable of firing 1,000 rounds per minute.

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

Sir Christopher found: "There was no lawful justification for shooting Azelle Rodney so as to kill him. Granted that E7 had an honest belief that Azelle Rodney posed a threat to himself or to other officers, this threat was then not such as to make it reasonably necessary to shoot at him."

E7 has written to the inquiry to claim that the findings against him are "irrational", and could ask for a judicial review.

During the 11-week public inquiry it emerged that he had previously shot two men dead during an incident in the 1980s, and later received a commendation for his actions.

The Crown Prosecution Service decided in 2006 that no criminal charges could be brought in the Rodney case, but a spokesman said the CPS is looking at it again.

He said: "The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has written to the Director of Public Prosecutions to ask that we review the case in light of new evidence provided to the public inquiry. This review will be completed as soon as practicable."