Inquiry Says Unarmed Black Man Shot ‘Lawfully’ by UK Police

Undated family handout photo of Jermaine Baker, who was shot dead by police near Wood Green Crown Court on Dec. 11, 2015. Baker family/PA

A public inquiry has concluded the shooting by police of a young black man in London in 2015 was “lawful” but the operation itself was seriously flawed.

Jermaine Baker, 28, was part of a gang who were planning to “spring” a notorious gangster from a prison van en route to a crown court in north London.

On Dec. 11, 2015, the gang was plotting to free Izzet Eren, a Turkish gangster from north London, from a prison van as it took him to a hearing at Wood Green Crown Court.

Scotland Yard had been tipped off and the bid to free him was aborted after Baker was shot dead by police as he waited in a stolen Audi A3 car near the courthouse.

Baker was unarmed but a replica Uzi submachine gun was found in the car.

The inquiry’s report, which was published on Tuesday (pdf), said there were a number of “failures” in Operation Ankaa—the police’s attempt to intercept and stop the escape plot—which included “failure properly to consider any outcome other than armed interception,” “failure to engage with Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service about Izzet Eren’s escape risk,” and failure to inform Serco, the company transporting Eren, of the escape plan.

Judge Clement Goldstone QC, who chaired the inquiry, also found the Operation Ankaa team had failed to keep proper records or to record briefings.

But he ruled the officer who shot Baker—who has been granted anonymity and is known only as W80—acted “lawfully.”

Police Officer ‘Believed Baker Posed a Lethal Threat’

He said: “I have concluded that W80 shot Mr Baker because he honestly believed that Mr Baker posed a lethal threat and that it was reasonably necessary for him to shoot in order to defend himself.”

The public inquiry considered the circumstances of W80’s decision to discharge his weapon and also examined what happened after Baker received his fatal injuries.

Goldstone wrote: “I have accepted W80’s evidence that Mr Baker moved his hands in the direction of the bag that he was wearing. As a result of briefings received, W80 believed that the suspects in the car would be armed with weapons and might try to fight their way out of the Audi mission vehicle. I have accepted W80’s evidence that he honestly believed that Mr Baker was not complying with the instruction to place his hands on the dashboard and that he was reaching for a firearm. W80 shot Mr Baker once.”

Eren, 39, was one of the leaders of the Tottenham Turks gang, which had been involved in a long-running feud with its arch-rivals the Bombacilars (Bombers) from Hackney, leading to more than a dozen deaths since 2009.

He was eventually convicted and jailed for 21 years for firearms offences but was transferred back to Turkey in August 2019 to serve the rest of his sentence. He absconded from a Turkish jail a month later and remained a fugitive until May 2022 when he was captured in Moldova and extradited back to Britain.

Baker was one of three men waiting in a stolen Audi A6 to try to break inmate Eren out of a prison van.

Giving evidence at the inquiry last year, Baker’s mother, Margaret Smith, said she felt the value of her son’s life had been forgotten by police officers involved in the operation.

She said: “This could happen to anyone. Jermaine’s life was exceptional and unusual in the way that it ended, but the story of being written off as a child could be told by so many black boys and young men.”