Met officer filled with dread’ before shooting unarmed driver, court told

A Metropolitan police marksman has told a court he shot dead an unarmed man in a car after becoming "filled with dread" the suspect would use the vehicle as a weapon and kill his colleagues trying to detain him.

- Vikram Dodd

Martyn Blake denies the murder of 24-year-old Chris Kaba on 5 September 2022 in Streatham, south London.

The Audi Q8 Kaba was driving had been stopped by police who believed it was linked to a firearms incident the previous night in nearby Brixton.

Blake, 40, told the jury at the Old Bailey he had never fired his gun at a suspect before in six years serving as an armed officer.

Officers had followed the Audi that Kaba was driving and having forced it to stop jumped out of their vehicles as they raced to "extract" the driver, shouting "armed police" and "show me your hands".

Previous police witnesses, as well as Blake, said the Audi tried to escape, and the firearms officer said he heard the revving of engines and the screech of tyres.

The court heard how Blake rushed out of his marked police BMW, which was blocking the Audi at the front, and fired a single shot in 17 seconds.