UK: Harry Stanley family wait on PCA and CPS
01 March 2000
The family of Harry Stanley, shot dead by police in east London in September 1999, are waiting to hear if officers are to face criminal charges. Mr Stanley, 46, had stopped in a pub for a lemonade on his way home in the early evening of September 22. He was carrying a two-foot table leg wrapped in a plastic bag, which his brother had just repaired for him. As he left the "Queen Adelaide" pub, someone in the pub called the police to say that an Irish man carrying a shotgun had just left. A short-while later, 100 yards from his front door, Harry Stanley was shot dead by officers from an armed response unit. The shooting has caused widespread concern over the use of force by police and the way that deaths at their hands are investigated.
The armed response
ACPO (the Association of Chief Police Officers) has drawn up guidelines on the police use of firearms. First issued in 1987, the guidelines (which are confidential) are believed to include the following minimum standards:
- firearms should only be used when there is reason to believe that a police officer may have to face a person who is armed or so dangerous that restraint is impossible without firearms;
- only reasonable force should be used;
- a proper briefing should be given to armed police before they set off by an officer of appropriate seniority;
- firearms should only be used when conventional methods have been tried and failed;
- only properly trained officers should bear arms;
The member of the public who rang police about Harry Stanley was wildly off the mark. His "shotgun" was a table leg and he was not Irish but originally from Scotland. Nevertheless, two officers, reportedly armed with Glock 9mm automatics, approached Stanley from behind, shouting: "Stop. Armed police". Having no reason to expect armed police to be challenging him, he walked on. They shouted again, he turned and they both opened fire. One bullet entered the side of Harry's head, another his left hand.
"There is strong evidence to say that Harry had not even turned round to face the police when they shot him." - Justice for Harry Stanley campaign.
Freemont Street, Hackney, where he was killed, is a no through road often used as a play area by children. The Campaign described the decision to "initiate an armed incident with children around is to say the least reckless and at worst criminal". Last year, similar questions surrounded the decision-making and intelligence underpinning the Sussex police raid in which James Ashley was shot dead (see Statewatch vol 9, no 2).
The next 18 hours
Harry Stanley was pronounced dead at the scene, 100 yards from his home. Despite the fact that he had his passport containing his address and other documentation from which he could easily be identified, his family were not informed for 18 hours. The post-mortem on Harry Stanley was carried out the following day. Coroners' enquiries and inquests are conducted in accordance with the Coroners Act 1988 and the Coroners Rules 1984. Rule 7 requires the coroner to notify relatives in advance of a post mortem so that a representative may be present if they wish. However, in a recent Parliamentary adjournment debate, Brian Sedgemore (MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch) alleged that:
"Brian Craddock, the officer in charge of the inquiry, had discovered Harry's identity, but could not be bothered to inform Mrs S that her husband had been killed and that she had the right to a representative at the post mortem."
Investigations and inquiries
The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) is "supervising" the investigation into Harry Stanley's death (it has no formal powers of investigation). It is being conducted by senior officers from Surrey police, themselves under investigation for shooting dead unarmed Derek Bateman in Dorking in July 1999 (initially the firearms inspector responsible for the officers in question was advising the Stanley investigation, bu