Killing of Azelle Rodney

Last updated

Death of Azelle Rodney
Date30 April 2005
Location Edgware, London, England
ParticipantsAzelle Rodney, Metropolitan Police Service, Wesley Lovell, Frank Graham
OutcomeIPCC: insufficient evidence to prosecute / independent public inquiry: unlawful killing
InquiriesIPCC, independent public inquiry (Chair: retired High Court judge, Sir Christopher Holland)
Inquest2 August 2007
Coroner Andrew Walker
Charges1 former police officer charged with murder
VerdictInquest not possible due to redacted information by IPCC [1] / Murder trial verdict: Not guilty

Azelle Rodney was a London man who was fatally injured by an armed officer of the Metropolitan Police on 30 April 2005. [2] [3] In July 2013, a public inquiry found that the Specialist Firearms Officer who fired the fatal shots, Anthony Long, had "no lawful justification" for killing Rodney. The case was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to determine whether a prosecution should be launched. [2] [3]

Contents

On 30 July 2014, the CPS announced that they had made the decision to charge the officer with murder. [4] On 3 July 2015, the officer was cleared by a jury. [5]

Biography and background

Azelle Rodney was born on 22 April 1981 [6] and brought up in west London. He had two brothers. Rodney was known for his sporting abilities at school, his football and athletic development came to an end after a hip injury and two subsequent operations when he was 16. [7] He also had an interest in music, and developed this and attended the local gymnasium. [8]

His mother stated after his death that her son barely knew the two men from whom he had accepted a lift, that he was not a gangster, and that he had only had a minor criminal record. [8] A report compiled for the public inquiry later described Azelle Rodney as a mid-level career criminal at the time of the shooting and he was wanted by police in connection with two stabbings. [2] [3]

His girlfriend gave birth to their daughter after his death. [8]

Death

On the night of 30 April 2005, Rodney was driven by associates Wesley Lovell and Frank Graham in a hired silver Volkswagen Golf. The three drove across north London after they were observed by police to pick up three weapons, believed to be MAC-10 sub-machine guns. They were seemingly unaware that their car had been under surveillance for some time and that it was being followed by armed police in unmarked vehicles. It was later revealed at the trial of Lovell and Graham for drugs and firearms offences that they had been under police surveillance for two days and that the car had been tailed for several hours on 30 April. [9]

According to information later released to Rodney's family by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, the armed police following the VW Golf moved at some point to "State Red", meaning that the car was to be intercepted as soon as possible. [9] This occurred as the car was passing the Railway Tavern on Hale Lane in the London Borough of Barnet at 7:43 pm, the police using a manoeuvre known as a "hard stop". An unmarked police Audi swerved in front of the VW Golf, a Vauxhall Omega halted alongside, and a third vehicle impacted the rear of the VW. [2] [3]

Fourteen members of the Metropolitan Police's Specialist Firearms Command (CO19) emerged from the cars. Hatton rounds – a form of shotgun breaching round – were fired to puncture the VW Golf's tyres. During this, a CO19 officer later referred to by his call sign of E7, who had twenty years of firearms experience, leant across from the front passenger seat of the Vauxhall Omega and fired eight 5.56mm rounds from his Heckler & Koch G36 Compact semi-automatic carbine through the passenger window of the VW Golf at Rodney, six of which hit him in the face, head, neck and chest. [2] [3]

An immediate police search of car found ammunition and three guns: a M1911 0.45 inch ACP Calibre self‐loading pistol; a Baikal pistol; and a smaller gun described as looking like a key fob. [2] [3] A later search of Lovell's flat revealed that it had been used to produce a "significant quantity" of crack cocaine. [9]

Before family liaison officers called on his family, Metropolitan Police officers had called at a neighbour's house to confirm Rodney's identity. That evening various news agencies reported that Rodney had been holding a gun when he was shot, and later described him as a "drugs baron" and a crack dealer. [7] The Times mentioned after Lovell and Graham's trial that he had been "visiting a drug factory that he ran". [10] Police called at his mother's house to inform her of his death on the afternoon of 1 May 2005, almost 24 hours later. [7]

Investigations and adjourned inquest

IPCC

The shooting was first investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission which passed its findings to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for consideration. The CPS concluded in July 2006 that there was insufficient evidence to convict any individual involved for Rodney's death. John Yates, the Metropolitan Police's Deputy Assistant Commissioner at the time, said that "The situation facing our officer that evening clearly left him with no option than to take the course of action he did."

The officer responsible said: "Everything about his actions led me to believe that he was fully ready to fire with a fully automatic weapon." However, the Independent Police Complaints Commission confirmed that Rodney was not seen holding a gun when he was shot dead. [7]

Inquest (adjourned)

On 2 August 2007, deputy coroner Andrew Walker, sitting at Hornsey North London, ruled that a full inquest into Rodney's death could not be held because of the large number of redactions in police officers' evidence statements. [1] The redactions were made under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 which covers information obtained from covert surveillance including telephone taps and bugs. The Rodney family's solicitor, Daniel Machover, said that he had written to the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice asking that the law be changed to allow the coroner to proceed with the inquest. [11]

In May 2009 four years after his death, Rodney's mother, Susan Alexander, filed a case against the British government in the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that her human rights were breached by the failure to hold a "reasonably prompt" and public investigation into her son's death. [12] The British government apologised to the European Court for the delay in holding a full investigation. [13]

Independent public inquiry

Logo of the inquiry Azelle Rodney Inquiry Logo.png
Logo of the inquiry

On 30 March 2010, Justice Minister, Lord Bach announced in the UK House of Lords a public inquiry into Rodney's death. [14] It was the first time in England that an inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005 replaced the role of an inquest jury to investigate a death regarding state deprivation of life and use of force as defined by Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. [13] [15] The inquiry began on 6 October 2010 chaired by a former high court judge, Sir Christopher Holland. The chair ruled that evidence previously kept secret could in fact be made public. [16] The Chair sought assurance, which was given in writing, from the Attorney General that evidence provided by witnesses to the Inquiry would not be used in any criminal proceedings. [17]

On 3 September 2012, seven years after Azelle Rodney was killed, the inquiry into his death began hearing oral evidence. [8] The identity of the officer who killed Rodney was protected and the officer was labelled, 'E7'. The inquiry heard that Rodney had been shot at eight times (six shots hit him) by 'E7' from an unmarked police car used, along with other unmarked police vehicles, to stop the car that Rodney was seated in the back of. 'E7' told the inquiry that he shot Rodney because Rodney's movements led him to believe Rodney had picked up a gun, possibly a machine gun, and he believed Azelle Rodney was about to open fire. He stated that at no point had he ever stated that he had seen a gun in Rodney's hands which had been obscured by the car door . The earlier IPCC inquiry established that Rodney was unarmed when he was shot and killed by 'E7'. [18] [19]

In July 2013 the public inquiry concluded that the armed police officer who fired the fatal shots had "no lawful justification" for killing Rodney. The report of the inquiry noted that eight shots were fired from close range in 2.1 seconds, six of which hit Rodney. The first two shots that hit him had neutralised any threat from Rodney. Subsequent shots were unlawful, either causing death or being fired at "a dead or dying man". The inquiry found that 'E7', the officer who killed Rodney, "could not rationally be believed" and rejected his version of events which were contradicted by forensic evidence. The inquiry did not find that 'E7' was deliberately lying. The inquiry concluded that firing at Rodney to kill him "was disproportionate and therefore unreasonable and unlawful". [20]

Susan Alexander, Rodney's mother, said he should not have been, "summarily killed". "The police owe me an apology for the unlawful killing of my son", she said. [2]

'E7', supported by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, applied to the High Court for a judicial review of the public inquiry, [21] claiming the Chair's conclusions were "irrational". In refusing the application Mr Justice Williams said he had "no doubt" there was "ample evidence to justify the finding" that 'E7' did not have an honest belief that Mr Rodney had picked up a gun. [22] [23]

The case was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to determine whether a prosecution should be launched. [2] [3]

Criminal proceedings

Murder trial

In July 2014, based on new evidence from the public inquiry and its conclusion of unlawful killing, the Crown Prosecution Service charged the former police officer, who had by now left the Metropolitan Police Service, with Azelle Rodney's murder saying, "there is a realistic prospect of conviction and that a prosecution is in the public interest". [24] Reporting restrictions were lifted allowing the charged officer formerly identified only as 'E7' to be properly named as PC Anthony Long. [25] The conclusion of the public inquiry that Rodney's killing was unlawful was withheld from the jury at the murder trial. [17] [26] The trial started at the Old Bailey, the English Central Criminal Court, on 8 June 2015, some ten years after Rodney's death.

On 3 July 2015 Anthony Long was found not guilty of murder by a majority verdict. After the trial Long said, "Police firearms officers do not go out intending to shoot people and, like me in this case, have to make split-second life or death decisions based on the information available to them at the time". [27]

Lovell and Graham trial

Wesley Lovell and Frank Graham, who had been in the car with Rodney, were later sentenced to seven years and six years imprisonment respectively at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court on 24 January 2006 for drugs and firearms offences. The court was told that three guns were found in the car and that Lovell's flat had been used to produce crack cocaine.

The trial also revealed that there was some dispute regarding the guns present in the VW Golf at the time of Rodney's death. In a statement, Scotland Yard said that the guns were "loaded and fully operational", however evidence given by the prosecution differed; it was stated that a Colt .45 pistol which Graham admitted to owning was on the back seat but had been deactivated and could not fire, while Lovell's pistol – which had been converted from a tear gas gun – was found inside a rucksack along with a loaded double-barrelled handgun.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Allen Muhammad</span> American serial killer (1960–2009)

John Allen Muhammad was an American convicted spree killer who, along with his partner and accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo, carried out the D.C. sniper attacks of October 2002, killing seventeen people. Muhammad and Malvo were arrested in connection with the attacks on October 24, 2002, following tips from alert citizens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White House Farm murders</span> Murders in England in 1985

The White House Farm murders took place near the village of Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex, England, during the night of 6–7 August 1985. Nevill and June Bamber were shot and killed inside their farmhouse at White House Farm along with their adopted daughter, Sheila Caffell, and Sheila's six-year-old twin sons, Daniel and Nicholas Caffell. The only surviving member of the immediate family was the adopted son, Jeremy Bamber, then aged 24, who said he had been at home a few miles away when the shooting took place.

Henry Bruce Stanley was a Scottish painter and decorator who was shot dead by the Metropolitan Police in London in contentious circumstances. Initially his death was recorded with an open verdict, before being ruled as unlawful killing by a jury on appeal and finally returned to an open verdict by the High Court.

The Walsh Street police shootings were the 1988 murders of two Victoria Police officers: Constables Steven Tynan, 22, and Damian Eyre, 20.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shooting of James Ashley</span> 1998 killing of unarmed man in UK

James Ashley was a British man who, while unarmed and naked, was shot dead by police in his flat in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, on 15 January 1998. Armed officers raided the building on the suspicion that Ashley kept a firearm and a quantity of cocaine there, and to arrest him and another man in connection with a stabbing. Neither a firearm nor a significant quantity of drugs was found, the other man was not present, and it later emerged that Ashley was not implicated in the stabbing. Ashley, likely woken by the noise of the raid, was out of bed when an armed police officer entered his bedroom. On seeing the officer, Ashley raised one arm and the officer reacted by firing a single shot. Later that morning, Sussex Police chief constable Paul Whitehouse held a press conference in which he praised the conduct of the operation.

During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, British security forces were accused by some of operating a "shoot-to-kill" policy, under which suspected paramilitary members were killed without an attempt being made to arrest them. This alleged policy was claimed to be most frequently directed against suspected members of Irish republican paramilitary organisations, such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). According to a 1985 inquiry by a team of international lawyers titled Shoot to Kill?, undercover security force units were "trained to shoot to kill even where killing is not legally justifiable and where alternative tactics could and should be used." The British government, including the Northern Ireland Office, consistently denied that there was ever a "shoot-to-kill" policy, stating that "like everyone else, the security forces must obey the law and are answerable to the courts for their actions."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laval Police Service</span> Police service in Laval, Quebec, Canada

The Service de police de Laval is the municipal police force of the city of Laval, Quebec, north of Montreal. The service consists of approximately 800 officers and civilian employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes</span> 2005 wrongful fatal shooting by British police

Jean Charles da Silva e de Menezes was a Brazilian man killed by officers of the London Metropolitan Police Service at Stockwell station on the London Underground, after he was wrongly deemed to be one of the fugitives involved in the previous day's failed bombing attempts. These events took place two weeks after the London bombings of 7 July 2005, in which 52 people were killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Mark Duggan</span> British Mixed-race man shot and killed by police in 2011

Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old black British man, was shot dead by police in Tottenham, North London on 4 August 2011. The Metropolitan Police stated that officers were attempting to arrest Duggan on suspicion of planning an attack and that he was in possession of a handgun. Duggan died from a gunshot wound to the chest. The circumstances of Duggan's death resulted in public protests in Tottenham, which led to conflict with police and escalated into riots across London and other English cities.

Anthony Grainger was shot and killed by an armed Greater Manchester Police officer in Culcheth, Cheshire, England, on 3 March 2012. At the time, Grainger was unarmed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Moncton shootings</span> Shootings of five police in Canada

The Moncton shootings were a string of shootings that took place on June 4, 2014, in Moncton, in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The perpetrator, Justin Bourque, a 24-year-old Moncton resident, walked around the northern area of the city and shot five officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), killing three and severely injuring two. A manhunt for Bourque was launched and continued overnight and into June 5. On June 6, Bourque was found and taken into custody, ending a manhunt that lasted over 28 hours. The shooting was both Moncton's first homicide since 2010 and the deadliest attack on the RCMP since the Mayerthorpe tragedy in 2005, which left four RCMP officers dead. Bourque intended for the shootings to trigger a rebellion against the Canadian government. He was sentenced to 75 years in prison, with no eligibility for parole until after serving 25 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Tamir Rice</span> 2014 police killing of an African-American boy in Cleveland, Ohio

On November 22, 2014, Tamir E. Rice, a twelve year old African-American boy, was killed in Cleveland, Ohio, by Timothy Loehmann, a 26-year-old white patrolman with the Cleveland Division of Police (CDP). Rice was carrying a replica toy gun; Loehmann shot him almost immediately upon arriving on the scene. Loehmann and his partner, 46-year-old Frank Garmback, had been responding to a dispatch call regarding a male who had a gun. A caller reported that a male was pointing "a pistol" at random people at the Cudell Recreation Center, a park in Cleveland's Public Works Department. The caller twice told to the dispatcher that the pistol was "probably fake", and also stated that the male was "probably a juvenile", but the dispatcher did not relay either of these statements to Loehmann and Garmback.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of John Crawford III</span> African-American man shot and killed by Beavercreek police officer Sean Williams

The killing of John Crawford III occurred on August 5, 2014. Crawford was a 22-year-old African-American man shot and killed by a police officer in a Walmart store in Beavercreek, Ohio, near Dayton, while he was holding a BB gun that was for sale in the store. The shooting was captured on surveillance video and led to protests from groups including the NAACP and the Black Lives Matter movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Kate Steinle</span> 2015 homicide in San Francisco

On July 1, 2015, 32-year-old Kathryn "Kate" Steinle was shot and killed while walking with her father and a friend along Pier 14 in the Embarcadero district of San Francisco. She was hit in the back by a single bullet. The man who fired the gun, José Inez García Zárate, said he had found it moments before, wrapped in cloth beneath a bench on which he was sitting, and that when he picked it up the weapon went off. The shot ricocheted off the concrete deck of the pier and struck the victim, who was about 90 feet (27m) away. Steinle died two hours later in a hospital as a result of her injuries.

Anthony Lamar Smith was a 24-year-old African American man from St. Louis, Missouri, who was shot and killed by then St. Louis Police officer Jason Stockley following a car chase on December 20, 2011. On September 15, 2017, Stockley was found not guilty of first-degree murder, and protests erupted in St. Louis.

The killing of Yassar Yaqub occurred on the evening of 2 January 2017 near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Yaqub was a passenger in a car stopped by police on a sliproad near junction 24 of the M62 motorway and was fatally shot by a West Yorkshire Police firearms officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandler's Ford shooting</span> Attempted robbery in England in 2007

The Chandler's Ford shooting was the shooting of armed robbers in the town of Chandler's Ford, Hampshire, in southern England, on 13 September 2007. Two men were shot dead by Metropolitan Police officers while they were robbing a cash-in-transit van at gunpoint. The Metropolitan Police's Flying Squad had been tracking a gang of armed robbers from South London who were estimated to have stolen £500,000 from 18 robberies of security vans. The Flying Squad received intelligence that the gang intended to target the HSBC branch in Chandler's Ford and planned to lie in wait and apprehend the suspects as they attempted the robbery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Mark Saunders</span> 2008 shooting death in London

Mark Saunders was a British barrister who was shot dead by police on 6 May 2008 after a five-hour siege at his home in Markham Square in Chelsea, London. Saunders was a successful divorce lawyer who struggled with depression and alcoholism. He had been behaving erratically and drinking heavily in the hours before the incident. Neighbours called the police after Saunders repeatedly fired a shotgun from a window shortly before 17:00. When armed police officers arrived, Saunders fired at their vehicle and the siege began. More armed officers arrived and took up positions in surrounding buildings and on the street. Saunders fired on two more occasions and the police returned fire, slightly wounding him. Around 20 minutes after the previous round of shooting, just after 21:30, Saunders waved the shotgun out of a window. As he lowered it in the direction of a group of police officers, seven officers fired eleven shots, of which at least five struck him. Police entered his flat minutes later and Saunders was taken to a waiting ambulance where he was pronounced dead.

Jermaine Baker was shot dead by a Metropolitan Police officer in Wood Green, London on 11 December 2015. Baker, who was unarmed, was shot during a police operation to prevent a suspected plot to free two prisoners being transported to Wood Green Crown Court. Baker's death led to an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which was continued by its successor body the Independent Office for Police Conduct, and a criminal investigation which did not result in criminal charges being brought against the officer who shot Baker. A public inquiry into Baker's death launched in June 2021 and reported in July 2022, finding that the police operation in which Baker was killed had involved a series of failings, but that Baker's killing was nonetheless lawful.

References

  1. 1 2 Walker, Andrew (2 August 2007). "In the matter touching the death of Azelle Rodney - Reasons for the rulings made on the 2nd August 2007" (PDF). BBC News .
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Dodd, Vikram (5 July 2013). "Azelle Rodney death: Met police had 'no lawful justification' for shooting Marksman could be prosecuted over death of unarmed man after official inquiry rules his evidence was 'not to be accepted'". The Guardian . London. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Azelle Rodney death: 'No justification' for police shooting". BBC News . 5 July 2013. Archived from the original on 6 July 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  4. ↑ BBC News (30 July 2014). "Azelle Rodney Inquiry: Murder Charge". BBC News. Archived from the original on 29 November 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  5. ↑ "Police marksman cleared of murder". BBC News. 3 July 2015. Archived from the original on 30 November 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  6. ↑ The Report of Sir Christopher Holland: The Azelle Rodney Inquiry, Section 2.1. HMSO 2013. ISBN   9780102986082 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/246478/0552.pdf Archived 25 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  7. 1 2 3 4 Barkham, Patrick (7 December 2006). "He was shot six times. Why?". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 BBC News (3 September 2012). "Azelle Rodney Inquiry: Profile of man shot by police". BBC News. Archived from the original on 20 February 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 "Police shooting survivors jailed". BBC News . 25 January 2006. Archived from the original on 6 February 2008. Retrieved 18 August 2008.
  10. ↑ Clover, Charles (26 January 2006). "News in Brief:Crack dealer shot by police". The Times . London. Retrieved 18 August 2008.[ dead link ]
  11. ↑ Summers, Chris (26 January 2006). "Shot man's family want law change". BBC News . Archived from the original on 26 July 2008. Retrieved 18 August 2008.
  12. ↑ Cookson, Richard; O'Neill, Sean (13 May 2009). "Mother of shot 'gangster' Azelle Rodney takes Government to court". The Times. Archived from the original on 17 May 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  13. 1 2 "Leslie Thomas acts for Azelle Rodney's family at public inquiry into fatal shooting", Garden Court Barristers Chambers, 6 September 2012
  14. ↑ Lords Hansard by Date - Daily Hansard, House of Lords Hansard, archived from the original on 22 July 2015
  15. ↑ "Azelle Rodney inquiry must answer tough questions about his death". The Guardian . 4 September 2012. Archived from the original on 25 April 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  16. ↑ Dodd, Vikram (6 October 2010). "Azelle Rodney evidence should not have been kept secret, says inquiry". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 April 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  17. 1 2 "Undertaking as to Use of Evidence" (PDF). Azelle Rodney Inquiry. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 September 2012.
  18. ↑ "Why did police shoot dead unarmed man Azelle Rodney seven years ago?". The Independent . 29 August 2012. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  19. ↑ "The Executive Summary of The Azelle Rodney Inquiry Report" (PDF). HM Government - The Azelle Rodney Inquiry. 5 July 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  20. ↑ "Armed police officer charged with murder over Azelle Rodney shooting". The Independent . 30 July 2014. Archived from the original on 31 July 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  21. ↑ "Azelle Rodney death: Met to support police marksman's legal challenge". The Guardian . 13 August 2013. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  22. ↑ "Azelle Rodney death: Met marksman refused judicial review". BBC News . 17 October 2013. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  23. ↑ "Judgment Approved by the court for handing down" (PDF). Garden Court Chambers Barristers, Royal Courts of Justice. 27 February 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 July 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  24. ↑ "Azelle Rodney shooting: former Met police officer to be charged with murder". The Guardian . 14 July 2014. Archived from the original on 31 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  25. ↑ "Azelle Rodney murder trial: Ex-police marksman named". The Independent . 3 October 2014. Archived from the original on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  26. ↑ "Azelle Rodney killing: Former police marksman Anthony Long not guilty of historic murder". London Evening Standard . 3 July 2015. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  27. ↑ "Azelle Rodney shooting: police marksman cleared of murder". The Guardian . 3 July 2015. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.