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Policing- in brief UK: Fresh inquest into police killing of Harry Stanley.

01 March 2003

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In April the High Court ruled that there should be a fresh inquest into the death of Harry Stanley, who was shot dead by Metropolitan police officers in September 1999 (see Statewatch vol 10 no 2). Harry was shot in the head as he returned home from the pub carrying a table leg in a plastic bag, which the policemen mistook for a gun. The police officers, from the SO19 firearms unit, had received information reporting a man leaving a pub with a sawn-off shotgun. They claimed that Harry had aimed the table-leg at them, as if to open fire, forcing them to shoot him. The first inquest returned an open verdict after the coroner instructed the jury to reject the unlawful killing option, leading to the family's application to the High Court to have the open verdict from the first inquest quashed. Mr Justice Silber's judgement will be handed down at the end of April, but is expected to reflect the family's concern about the conduct of the original coroner, Dr. Stephen Chan. Outside the court Mrs Stanley said: "I want a fair inquest. I want justice." Inquest press release 27.4.03; Miscarriages of Justice UK

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