‘Lessons learned’ over fatal police shooting
GOVERNMENT REPORT SAYS ‘SIGNIFICANT WORK’ HAS TAKEN PLACE
LESSONS have been learned after the fatal shooting of Anthony Grainger by Greater Manchester Police, says a government report.
Mr Grainger was killed just after 7pm on March 3, 2012, when he was shot in the chest by a single bullet from a Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine gun fired by a police marksman known as Q9. He was sat behind the wheel of a stolen red Audi in a car park in the village of Culcheth near Warrington.
In a response to a damning report issued last year, the government said progress had since been made, but there was no room for complacency.
Last year, a highly critical 345-page report laid bare the mistakes and failures which led to the death of Mr Grainger, 36.
But the report found the shooting was not unlawful and it stopped short of recommending any further action is taken against any of the police officers involved.
The report, written by His Honour Judge Thomas Teague QC, followed a 14-week inquiry held in 2017.
It concluded that Operation Shire, a pre-planned strike, was based on intelligence which contained ‘serious inaccuracies, presenting a distorted and in some respects exaggerated picture of the threat Mr Grainger presented.’
Commanding officers ‘lacked the requisite level of professional competence,’ and planning was ‘inadequate and ineffective.’
It identified failings at national, force and individual officer level.
His Honour Judge Teague concluded Mr Grainger died because GMP failed to authorise, plan or conduct the mobile armed response teams in a way as to minimise to the greatest extent possible, recourse to lethal force.
Six officers remain under investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
A government response to the inquiry, published yesterday, said ‘good progress’ had been made on nine recommendations set out by Judge Teague in his report.
The government said it had worked closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), the College of Policing and GMP on the recommendations.
The response said: “These organisations have accepted the recommendations which were made and have assured the government that, in the seven years since the operation in which Anthony Grainger was fatally shot, significant work has taken place to implement changes from lessons learned.”
Mr Grainger’s partner, Gail Hadfield-Grainger, from Bolton, said: “It has been almost a year since the inquiry’s report, and over eight years since Anthony’s death, so I am relieved to finally receive a response from the government. The response is important but words will never be enough to save lives.
“I intend to meet with the Minister of Policing to ensure that concrete changes are made to armed policing in this country without further delay in order to protect the public.”
In a statement included in the government report, GMP said it had learned from Mr Grainger’s death and the inquiry report. It said: “GMP has invested in a significant, longterm reform programme to make armed operations safer in the Greater Manchester area, in the north west and nationally.”
The recommendations set out by Judge Teague included changes to policies and procedures.
The government response said body-worn video cameras are now a requirement for all armed response vehicle officers and specialist firearms officers when deployed overtly.
During 15 weeks of evidence in 2017, Q9 told Liverpool Crown Court from behind a screen that he believed Mr Grainger had reached down as if to grab a firearm. But the inquiry heard that no firearms were found on Mr Grainger or in the stationary vehicle, which was in a public car park.
In a statement GMP said: “Our work continues with regional and national colleagues as we to strive to ensure all armed operations are carried out as safely as possible.
“Our thoughts remain with Mr Grainger’s family and partner following the loss of their loved one.”