Application for British Judicial Review Into Police Killing of Black Man Rejected

Police car set alight by working class youth in rebellion against the capitalist economic crisis in Britain. The government has ordered 16,000 cops on to the streets in London to put down the unrest., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Mark Duggan death: application for judicial review into police protocol rejected

Institute of Race Relations
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
3:40 PM

The mother of a man whose death by police sparked riots across Tottenham and London had an application for a judicial review into police protocol rejected.

Pamela Duggan - whose 29-year-old son Mark Duggan died after being shot in August 2011 - failed in a bid to launch a judicial review of Association of Chief Police Officers’ (Acpo) policy.

The shooting, due to be investigated at an inquest later this year, was followed by riots, two judges were told at a High Court hearing in London.

Mrs Duggan wanted the High Court to analyse general advice given to police about conferring before giving accounts of incidents.

She claimed that Acpo policy did not include “appropriate measures” to reduce the risk that officers directly involved in a fatal shooting conferred with each other before producing accounts.

She also said that the Independent Police Complaints Commission watchdog had failed to issue guidance or take “appropriate steps”.

But Lord Justice Laws and Mr Justice Wilkie blocked Mrs Duggan’s judicial review claim - which was publicly funded - ruling that she did not have an “arguable” case.

Judges were told that armed officers - from the Metropolitan Police’s CO19 firearm command unit - had stopped a taxi Mr Duggan was travelling in at about 6.15pm on August 4 2011.

Lawyers for Mrs Duggan had said 11 officers had been involved and one had shot Mr Duggan twice and caused fatal injuries.

“Widespread disturbances followed Mark’s death,” Hugh Southey QC had added, in a written statement given to judges.

“A number of reviews concluded that public anxiety about the police involvement in the incident and about the subsequent actions of the commission and police was an important contributory factor to the riots.”

He had continued: “The (judicial review) claim is not academic ... (Mrs Duggan) challenges Acpo’s policy on conferring and the on-going failure by Acpo to issue appropriate guidance.”