Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg (Image: GB NEWS)
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has described the decision to prosecute a police marksman over the fatal shooting of Chris Kaba as a "disgrace".
Martyn Blake, 40, was cleared of murder at the Old Bailey today after shooting the 24-year-old during a police vehicle stop in south-east London in 2022.
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Former Tory minister Sir Jacob described the Crown Prosecution Service's decision to pursue Mr Blake as a "terrible blotch" on its record.
Speaking on his GB News show, he said: “The decision by the Crown Prosecution Service to pursue Sergeant Blake was a disgrace.
“Police officers put their lives on the line every day, especially those in the firearms unit.
“As a result of the decision, firearms officers went on strike effectively, which risked putting the safety of the public at danger. This case is a terrible blotch on the Crown Prosecution Service’s record.
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“The police have to act under enormous pressure. In America, they view assault with a car as being assault with a deadly weapon. Cars can, and do, kill people.
“With no time to react, with somebody in a car, the car, not the person, was known to have been at a shooting the previous day. What are the police supposed to do? Be run over and then react?
“He had not obeyed a police order. He was in a car. They were trying to stop the car. He was driving the car back and forth to bump police cars out of the way.
"There was a policeman holding the door handle of the car. There was a risk that policemen could have been run over.
“I think this seems to me it's not unarmed when you're driving a one-and-a-half-ton car.”
Mr Blake shot the 24-year-old through the front windscreen of an Audi Q8 in Streatham on September 5 2022.
The Audi had been used as a getaway vehicle in a shooting the previous evening, and was hemmed in by police cars after an officer recognised its registration number.
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Mr Kaba drove backwards and forwards trying to ram his way free, which Mr Blake told jurors made him believe one of his colleagues was about to die, and so he opened fire to stop the car.
The jury deliberated for three hours on Monday to clear Mr Blake, who became only the 12th police officer to face a murder or manslaughter charge over a death following police contact since 1990.
Prosecutors argued that Mr Blake had misjudged the risk, exaggerated the threat to his colleagues in statements following the shooting, and had aimed at Mr Kaba's head, all of which he denied.
Defence barrister Patrick Gibbs KC said Mr Blake was "not a robot", adding: "He is a human being with a human brain who did this to the best of his ability."
Following the verdict, Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: "This has been a complex and sensitive case and the decision to prosecute was made after an in-depth consideration of all the available evidence.
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"We recognise that firearms officers operate under enormous pressure, but it is our responsibility to put cases before a jury that meet our test for prosecution, and we are satisfied that test was met in this case.
"It is therefore right that the case was put before the jury for them to scrutinise and to decide.
"They have carefully considered each piece of evidence, including video and Martyn Blake's own account."