by A firearms officer who killed a 28-year-old man during a botched prison attack will face a misconduct hearing “at the earliest opportunity”, the Metropolitan Police said.
The W80 shot dead Jermaine Baker, from Tottenham, north London, as police foiled a plot to grab two prisoners from a van near Wood Green Crown Court in December 2015.
Prosecutors said in 2017 there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the shooting, but a police watchdog asked the officer to face misconduct proceedings.
This sparked a lengthy legal battle between the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and the officer, who was supported by the Met.
In July this year the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the IOPC.
On Monday, the Metropolitan Police said the misconduct hearing would take place, but rejected the watchdog's suggestion that another force should initiate the process.
Instead, a member of the hearing panel, which will be chaired by an independent lawyer, will come from another force.
The Met said: “Given that these events took place eight years ago and the ongoing inquiry and investigation process has had a significant impact on all involved, it is in everyone's best interests to proceed with the conduct offense hearing and conclude the matter with first chance.
“We have also considered the IOPC's request to ask another force to conduct the hearing.
“Our position remains that we do not accept the Met's objections to the IOPC's earlier direction to hold a gross misconduct hearing or our wider appeal for support and legal assurance for armed officers, which impinges on our independence, nor the impartiality of the misconduct hearing process .
“Listening arrangements for the W80 will be made by the Met. However, the member of the police commission will come from another force and the hearing will be led by an independent legally qualified chairman.
“Arrangements are now being made for the hearing to proceed as soon as possible.”
He said the time it took to resolve the case, partly because of the legal battle involving the force, showed the need for a government review of how firearms officers are held accountable when they kill someone.
Mr Baker's mother, Margaret Smith, backed the IOPC's call for another power to hold the misconduct hearing because the Met was involved in the legal battle that would prevent it from taking place.
An IOPC spokesman said: “We have raised our concerns about the importance of public confidence in the independence of the process and these concerns remain.
We note the Met's response and it is now the duty of the force to bring the process to their proper conclusion.
Mr Baker was among a group of men trying to free Izzet Eren and his co-accused as they were taken from Wormwood Scrubs to be sentenced for a firearms offence.
Several men were jailed in 2016 for their parts in the plot.
A public inquiry in July 2022 found that Baker had been “lawfully killed”, but said the police had made a number of failings in the planning and execution of the operation.
