Police marksman thought colleague 'would be shot'

A police marksmen who shot dead a man holding a table leg said he opened fire because he believed the man was about to shoot his colleague with a sawn-off shotgun.

Inspector Neil Sharman told the inquest into the death of Harry Stanley that he shouted "armed police" and "drop the gun" as he followed him down the street. He told St Pancras coroner's court that he shot Mr Stanley, 46, after the man turned and pointed an object in a tightly wrapped blue plastic bag.

Police had earlier received reports of an "Irishman" leaving a pub in Hackney, east London, with a sawn-off shotgun in a blue plastic bag.

Inspector Sharman said he recognised the manoeuvre as a "classic preparation to firing a sawn-off shotgun from the hip". But he was accused by a lawyer for the family of fabricating this later to justify the shooting.

Inspector Sharman and his colleague, PC Kevin Fagan, both specialist Metropolitan Police firearms officers, had responded to an emergency call on the evening of 22 September 1999. They spotted Mr Stanley and stopped their car to follow him on foot.

Inspector Sharman told the court: "I could see that he was holding in his right hand, down by his side, a tightly-rolled blue plastic bag which contained a cylindrical object."

The officer said: "I began shouting as loud as I could and the words were, 'Armed police'. I shouted again, 'Drop the gun', and 'Armed police'.

"Whilst I was shouting I was aware that PC Fagan was challenging the male. The male turned in a deliberate fluid motion on his left leg. I could see that this bag was being levelled and being brought in a horizontal position. I saw the male pull the bag into his hip with his right hand and then quickly bring up his left hand to grasp the front of the bag.

"This weapon was now pointing directly at my colleague, who I believed was about to be shot at very close range. There was no other way of preventing PC Fagan being shot."

The hearing continues.