LONDON—The Recorder of London, Mark Lucraft, KC, has formally lifted an anonymity order protecting the identity of a police firearms officer charged with the murder of Chris Kaba, who can now be identified as Martyn Blake.
Mr. Blake, who had been known until now as NX121, was formally arraigned at the Old Bailey on Friday and pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr. Kaba, 24, on Sept. 5, 2022.
At a hearing in September 2023 it was acknowledged Mr. Blake, 40, was the police officer who had fired the fatal shot into Mr. Kaba, 24, as he drove an Audi car in Streatham Hill, south London.
Judge Lucraft announced in October 2023 he would be lifting the order at the end of January—a date which was pushed back until March 8—after hearing legal submissions from Jude Bunting, KC, representing a number of media outlets.
Mr. Blake is on conditional bail ahead of a three-week trial, which is due to take place before Mr. Justice Goss at the Old Bailey on Oct. 2.
At the hearing in October 2023, prosecutor Tom Little, KC said the decision to charge NX121 had come more than a year after the shooting incident.
The Chris Kaba shooting was the most controversial firearms incident in London since August 2011 when Mark Duggan, a member of the Tottenham Man Dem, was shot dead, triggering riots across the capital.
In the case of Mr. Duggan, the police officer who shot him, identified only as V53, was never charged and an inquest jury returned a verdict of lawful killing.
Police Officers ‘Will Be Angry’ Anonymity Order Lifted
A serving Metropolitan Police officer, who commented on condition of anonymity, told The Epoch Times, “The vast majority of police officers will be more than a little angry with the name being released and I know a lot of firearms officers handed their tickets in, in protest.”He said: “This will most definitely harm recruitment and some existing firearms officers will probably hand their tickets in permanently. The training is gruelling and exacting and, unlike the military, there is the split second judgment call to consider of whether to pull the trigger or not ... Why would you put yourself through that?”
Chris Hobbs, a former Metropolitan Police officer and now a commentator on policing, said Mr. Blake and his family’s lives were about to “change irrevocably” regardless of the outcome of the trial.
“That will upset a lot of officers who will be concerned for their own futures and safety. And secondly, there may well be an element of protest where officers say, ‘well, if you’re going to treat us like this, find somebody else,’” he added.
The Met says there are 2,500 authorised firearms officers but Mr. Hobbs said, “Some of them are protection officers—working as bodyguards for royalty and other VIPs—some of them are officers that will protect Parliament, Downing Street, etc., some are very specialist officers like counter-terrorism officers.”
Naming NX121 ‘Will Have Ramifications’
Retired London police officer Norman Brennan, who has 42 years of police experience, told The Epoch Times, “The implications of naming NX121 I believe will have ramifications across firearms in policing in Britain.”Mr. Brennan said: “That alone shows you how low the morale is. Officers are not prepared to put themselves and their families’ lives and circumstances at risk.”
He said: “Police officers are the protectors of society. To carry a firearm is a voluntary role and a privilege, an exceptionally important position. I believe police officers should not be named until convicted. At this moment in time NX121 is entirely innocent and he may well be completely exonerated.”
Mr. Brennan said morale within police was “dreadful” and would get even lower in the firearms units as a result of the way Mr. Blake had been treated.
Labour MP for Streatham Bell Ribeiro-Addy wrote on X on Friday, “My thoughts and prayers are with Chris’s friends and family as their fight for justice continues.”
