Mark Duggan’s family are set to sue the Metropolitan Police over his death and its “lawful” ruling after it was determined in an inquest that no gun was found on Mark after he was shot by an armed police officer.
Mark Duggan was fatally shot twice by armed police in 2011 in Tottenham, North London and his death sparked riots and protests across the summer.
The Met Police said that they believed Duggan was carrying a firearm and posed a threat which is why they responded with such force. The officers claimed in the inquest and all subsequent investigations that they acted in self-defence when firing at Mark.
In 2015, the police watchdog cleared all officers involved in the shooting of any criminal charges and all wrongdoing.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission published a report shortly after which called for immediate changes to the undercover firearm police force; notably in relation to their lack of audio and video evidence. Their report concluded that this lack of audio and video, “made it difficult, and on occasions impossible, to know with absolute certainty what happened”.
After the inquest, a coroner involved in the case, Judge Keith Cutler, said that the evidence collected, “did not resolve, the vexed and very important issue of what precisely happened immediately before the fatal shot was fired”.
Mark’s family challenged this ruling in 2017 at the Court of Appeal however a majority vote ruled that the “lawfully killed” verdict from 2015 was correct.
This new civil suit will see Mark’s family sue the Metropolitan Police force and seek damages over his death.
The Metropolitan Police said through a spokesperson that they have received the civil claim but are yet to comment further on the case.