Jermaine Baker, a father of two, was shot in Bracknell Close, near Wood Green Crown Court
A Metropolitan Police operation that led to an officer fatally shooting an unarmed man in north London was legal, but there were flaws at nearly every stage, an investigation has found.
Jermaine Baker, 28, was shot during a failed attempt to free an inmate from a prison van near Wood Green Crown Court in 2015.
No actual firearm was found inside the car in which Mr. Baker was killed.
But Judge Clement Goldstone QC said race was not a factor in the shooting.
Baker’s mother, Margaret Smith, rejected the conclusion that her son did not die as a result of police failure, saying that they meant that her son was “dead before he got in the car”.
Speaking after the findings were published, Baker’s mother said: “The judge has pointed out numerous really serious failings on the part of the Met.
“Putting the risk of my son’s life being taken was never justified,” Smith said.
‘We deserve more’
“I cannot agree with the judge’s conclusion that Jermaine did not die as a result of these failures, that is a conclusion I cannot understand.
“After seven years of waiting… we deserve more.”
The Met Police said it would take time to carefully study the conclusions of the investigation.
Mr. Baker was one of three men waiting in a stolen Audi to escape from inmate Izzet Eren, a high-ranking member of the notorious Tottenham Turks gang.
An imitation firearm, an Uzi, was later found in the back of the car.
The investigation heard that officers had intelligence that the group had been unable to obtain an actual weapon, but this information was not passed on to the firearms team that confronted the men.
Mr Baker may also have been asleep at the time he was shot and may have misinterpreted conflicting instructions shouted by armed officers who challenged the men in the Audi, the inquest said.
‘Arrogant, dismissive attitude’
He also heard that the officers did not consider any possible outcome other than an armed arrest, and did not properly assess the risk posed by Eren’s cousin Ozcan Eren, who was behind the escape plot.
The police force also failed to communicate with the Prison Service about Eren’s escape risk or tell prison van staff about the planned jailbreak.
The failure to take meeting notes showed “an arrogant and dismissive attitude toward formality and a lack of appreciation of the importance of accountability and keeping an audit trail,” the investigation found.
The chairman of the investigation concluded that race was not a factor in the shooting of Jermaine Baker.
Judge Goldstone said the police failures should “serve as a strong wake-up call” for the Met’s next police commissioner, following the resignation of Dame Cressida Dick earlier this year.
However, he noted that when the father-of-two was shot by the firearms officer, he “had an honest and genuine belief that Mr. Baker was moving to reach for the firearm.”
It also said that it “found no evidence to support a finding that race played any role in Mr. Baker’s death.”
Mrs Smith said her son “wasn’t an angel” but “should have gone to prison” instead of being shot to death.
She had asked the chairman of the investigation to consider whether the fact that her son was black might have been a factor in his killing.
Jermaine Baker was killed when he was shot by the Met shooter, known only as W80, near Wood Green Crown Court.
The investigation heard that a police microphone in the car had captured a wall of noise, and some officers told the group to raise their hands.
But the officer who fired the fatal shot, known only as W80, said he had ordered Baker to put his hands on the dash.
W80 told the inquiry he was convinced the men would be armed and would fight their way out rather than surrender when challenged by armed police.
‘Delusional’
In his findings, Judge Goldstone said that W80’s “overall credibility” as a witness “remained largely intact”.
But, detailing the various failings, he said that public safety should have been, but was not, the main objective of the operation.
He also described the idea of the operation to rid the streets of north London of lethal firearms as “delusional”.
In a statement, the Met Police said it had made changes to the way its firearms officers operated in London, including through officer training and support.
A spokeswoman added: “We are always open to improving our ability to address the firearms threat.”
The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to bring criminal charges against W80 in 2017.
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