Trigger-happy British cops face prosecution

Mainly because the victim's family kept a heavy glare of publicity on the police complaints procedure, it would seem

Police marksmen who controversially shot dead a barrister face a manslaughter investigation by prosecutors, it emerged yesterday. Seven officers fired 11 shots into Mark Saunders at the end of a five-hour siege of his London flat, in which he exchanged fire with the specialist firearms squad. His family claim the successful divorce lawyer could have been arrested 'peacefully' after he began firing a shotgun randomly from his Chelsea home.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission launched an investigation into the shooting by Scotland Yard's elite CO 19 unit. Now the police watchdog has completed its inquiry and announced the file will go to the Crown Prosecution Service for it to decide whether to bring charges.

Oxford-educated Mr Saunders, 32, was killed at his £2million flat off the Kings Road last May after spending an afternoon drinking. The former Territorial Army soldier legally owned a 12-bore shotgun which he began firing. While a police helicopter hovered overhead, he shot at officers and hit a house opposite - then marksmen ended the stand-off.

A post-mortem examination found Mr Saunders, whose wife Elizabeth is also a barrister, was hit at least five times and shot in the head, the heart and liver by several weapons. The IPCC began an investigation into the incident, as is routine in police shootings, but Mr Saunders' family began questioning whether lethal force had been necessary to stop him.

His sister Charlotte said five months after the incident: 'I question whether they had to kill him. 'I firmly believe that this could have been brought to a peaceful conclusion. Mark had no hostages, he was holed up in his own home, surrounded by scores of officers and the area had been evacuated.' She claimed a senior IPCC member told her officers had a 20-minute opportunity to use a Taser gun on her brother which would have incapacitated him. Miss Saunders, 26, also highlighted video footage which apparently showed her brother had not fired his gun for 20 minutes when marksmen opened fire and was talking to officers only ten seconds before he died. 'If police were in range for Taser guns why didn't they Taser him then? Why didn't they throw in the CS gas then,' she asked?

She also dismissed suggestions that her brother committed 'suicide by cop', denied he was an alcoholic or depressive, or an angry man jealous of his wife's professional success. His family went to the High Court seeking a judicial review in an attempt to have the IPCC inquiry into his death declared unlawful. They argued - in a case echoing concerns raised about procedure in the wake of the shooting of Brazilian John Charles de Menezes in 2005 - that allowing firearms officers to confer about their accounts gave rise to the risk of collusion. Mr Justice Underhill dismissed the claim but expressed concern about the practice and the Association of Chief Police Officers later effectively ended it.

Charlotte Saunders has launched a legal action for damages against the Met. She has also cited the IPCC in her High Court proceedings for negligence.

In a statement, the IPCC said: 'As in all IPCC cases, the investigation report was passed to an IPCC commissioner to decide whether the case should be referred to the CPS. 'On this occasion it was decided that the case did meet the criteria for referral.' An IPCC spokesman added: 'We find the facts and then it is up to the CPS to say whether those facts amount to criminal charges.'

If prosecutors decide there is no case to answer, the officers could still face disciplinary charges. A date for the inquest has yet to be fixed.

Original report here



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