Source: All England Reporter
Publisher Citation: [2006] All ER (D) 47 (Feb)
Court: Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court)
Judge:

Collins J
Representation Michael Mansfield QC, Richard Harvey and Mary Canavan (instructed by Imran Khan & Partners) for the claimant.
  Jonathan Hough (instructed by Deborah Holmes, Southwark) for the defendant.
  Edmund Lawson QC and Ian Stern (instructed by Russell Jones & Walker) for the police officers, the first and second interested parties.
  Michael Beloff QC and John Beggs (instructed by New Scotland Yard) for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, the third interested party.
Judgment Dates: 3 February 2006

Catchwords

Coroner - Inquest - Directions to jury - Police officers shooting and killing member of public - Self defence - Verdict of lawful killing - Test to be applied - Reasonableness - Human rights - Right to life - Whether test not complying with European Convention on Human Rights - Whether coroner erring in refusing to leave verdict of unlawful killing to jury - European Convention on Human Rights, art 2.

The Case

The reasonableness test directed by the coroner to the jury at the inquest into the death of the deceased, who had been shot and killed by police officers who had believed that he was armed with a gun and was about to shoot them, was not in practice any different from the test as applied in Strasbourg case law to determine whether there had been a violation of art2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. To apply a different test when considering the actions of state agents would inappropriately fetter their actions to the detriment of their own safety and that of the public. In the circumstances, the coroner's direction to the jury had been appropriate.

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