The police watchdog has paused misconduct proceedings against the officer cleared of murdering Chris Kaba ahead of a law change on the use of force.
Mr Kaba’s family said they were “devastated” by the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC) decision to delay serving Sergeant Martyn Blake with misconduct papers.
The 24-year-old, who was not armed, had both hands on the steering wheel of his vehicle when he was shot in the head by Metropolitan Police firearms officer, initially known as NX121, in Streatham, south London, on 5 September 2022.
A jury, which was not told Mr Kaba was a core member of a notorious south London gang who was suspected of carrying out a nightclub shooting, deliberated for about three hours before finding Mr Blake not guilty of murder in October 2024.
After the acquittal, then-home secretary Yvette Cooper vowed to raise the legal test used by prosecutors to determine whether to bring charges against police officers over use of force, into line with the standard used for members of the public.
In April last year, Mr Kaba’s family welcomed the IOPC’s announcement that Mr Blake would face a gross misconduct hearing, saying they hoped it would lead to him being sacked from the Met.
The force said it had made “strong representations” that he should not face any further action, and asked the watchdog to drop proceedings in November after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood accepted a recommendation to raise the test for use of force in misconduct cases from the civil standard to the test used in criminal law.
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The law changed is expected to come into force in the spring.
Mr Kaba’s family said they only learned on Wednesday that the Met had asked the IOPC to halt the case.
“Martyn Blake fatally shot Chris when he was unarmed, and without knowing who he was,” they said in a statement.
“Until today, Martyn Blake was quite correctly facing imminent disciplinary proceedings for that use of force.”
“We are devastated that the IOPC has decided, under this kind of police pressure, to put on hold the preparations for Martyn Blake’s gross misconduct proceedings.”
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IOPC Director Amanda Rowe said the watchdog recognised “the impact of this case on everyone affected, and it isn’t our intention to delay matters any more than necessary”.
But she added: “It’s important that our decision takes account of impending changes to the use of force standard.”
Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman said the “pause” over whether to bring disciplinary proceedings should be “as short as possible”.
“NX121’s life has been effectively on hold for more than three years, and every additional delay prolongs the stress and uncertainty that he and his family are living with,” he said, using the cipher Mr Blake was identified by before a judge allowed him to be publicly identified.
“We also recognise that this delay will be felt deeply by Mr Kaba’s family, who continue to grieve their loss.”
A helicopter and six police cars were involved in stopping Mr Kaba after the Audi Q8 he was driving had been linked to a shooting outside a school in nearby Brixton the previous evening.
Mr Kaba had turned into Kirkstall Gardens, where Mr Blake was inside a marked police BMW, before trying to make his escape.
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The murder trial hinged on the following 17 seconds, when Mr Kaba reversed a short distance, hitting an unmarked police car behind, then accelerated forward, reaching an estimated 12mph before colliding with the BMW and a parked Tesla.
Armed officers were heard shouting “go, go, go”, and “armed police, get out of the f***ing car”, as they surrounded Mr Kaba’s vehicle in footage played in court.
Prosecutors had argued Mr Blake may have “become angry, frustrated and annoyed”, and Mr Kaba had done nothing in the seconds before he was shot to justify his decision to pull the trigger.
The officer said he didn’t intend to kill Mr Kaba, adding: “I had a genuine belief that there was an imminent threat to life, I thought one or more of my colleagues was about to die.”
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Matt Cane, General Secretary of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said the IOPC’s decision “will not only be welcomed by Sgt Blake and his family – but also all police officers across London”.
“Police officers should not face losing their liberty or livelihoods for doing the job that society expects of them, and it has been pleasing to see government acknowledgement of this,” he said.
“We look forward to Sgt Blake – already fully exonerated for his actions in court by a jury of peers – swiftly having no further case to answer.”
