Misguided Police Action; Law Should Decide Rights and Wrongs of Stanley Case

Summary

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Police officers are prevented in law from taking industrial action. However, Metropolitan Police firearms officers are edging closer to challenging the ban by laying down the equivalent of their tools. Dozens have refused to carry firearms in protest at the force's decision to suspend two of their colleagues, potentially undermining law and order and security in London. Disciplinary action was taken against Inspector Neil Sharman and PC Kevin Fagan after an inquest last week returned an unlawful killing verdict in the case of Harry Stanley, an unarmed man they had shot dead. The verdict signified an important breakthrough in the campaign Mr Stanley's family has been waging for justice since his death nearly five years ago.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed it will review the case, raising the possibility that the two officers could face a criminal prosecution. That is the outcome Mr Stanley's widow, Irene, has been working towards since he was shot as he returned to his home in Hackney, London, carrying a repaired table leg in a plastic bag. Mrs Stanley, like her husband a Scot, told The Herald in 2002: "Mark my words, one day I'll get justice for Harry . . . These two policemen have to stand up and accept what they have done."

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Misguided Police Action; Law Should Decide Rights and Wrongs of Stanley Case

She was speaking after the first inquest into the death returned an open verdict, the only one avai...

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