Watchdog orders the Met to hold misconduct hearing over officer who shot and killed gangster Jermaine Baker as he tried to free prisoners
- A public enquiry concluded that Baker was ‘lawfully’ killed by officer W80
The Met has been ordered by a watchdog to hold a gross misconduct hearing into the officer who shot dead Jermaine Baker eight years ago.
The officer, known as W80, shot the gangster as he tried to free two prisoners from a van near a north London court. In 2017, the Crown Prosecution Service said he should not face criminal charges.
A public inquiry later ruled Baker, 28, was ‘lawfully’ killed. But the Independent Office for Police Conduct ordered a gross misconduct hearing, recommending the case be given to another force. Scotland Yard said it is ‘reviewing’ the order.
The Police Federation of England and Wales said last night the IOPC decision to proceed with a hearing was ‘disgraceful’.
It comes as hundreds of Met firearms officers are handing in their weapons in a protest against the decision to charge a firearms officer with murder for shooting dead a black man in south London.
Jermaine Baker was shot eight years ago by an officer referred to as W80 as he tried to free two prisoners
Baker was ruled to have been shot ‘lawfully’ by a public enquiry, but the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) ordered a gross misconduct hearing and recommended the case be conducted by another police force
Floral tributes left outside Wood Green Crown Court in London in December 2015
In 2017, prosecutors initially didn’t bring criminal charges against the officer who shot Baker.
But a panel of five justices at the Supreme Court unanimously ruled the IOPC applied the correct legal test when directing the Met to bring disciplinary proceedings against the officer.
They ruled that civil rather than criminal law applied to disciplinary proceedings relating to the use of force by a police officer.
Baker was among a group of men trying to free Izzet Eren and his co-defendant as they were transported from Wormwood Scrubs to be sentenced for a firearms offence.
A number of men were jailed in 2016 for their parts in the plot.
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