SUSAN HALL DEMANDS INVESTIGATION INTO POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED IOPC

Last November, the courts found the firearms officer who shot Chris Kaba “not guilty” of murder. Making their mind up took just three hours. The court found that he acted lawfully in trying to defend himself and his colleagues from a car being driven at them.

Yet still, the IOPC - whose prosecutors claim they acted under political pressure to prosecute - is still trying to go after the officer who has had to face bounties on his head, death threats, and public vilification.

We say, enough.

This week, Susan Hall AM wrote to the Home Secretary to demand an investigation into the IOPC over this politically motivated witch hunt.

Read her letter below:

Dear Secretary of State,

I am writing to you following The Independent Office for Police Conduct's (IOPC) decision to direct the Metropolitan Police Service to hold a disciplinary hearing for the firearms officer known as NX121.

As you will be aware, NX121 was unanimously acquitted of the murder of Chris Kaba following an Old Bailey trial in October 2024. The jury took less than three hours to reach this decision.

Following this acquittal, the Met made strong representations to the IOPC that NX121 should not face any further action due to the extensive evidence tried and tested at court and the verdict returned by the jury.

Despite this, the IOPC has now determined that NX121 has a case to answer for his use of force and has directed the Met to hold a gross misconduct hearing. NX121 and his family will now face another lengthy and highly distressing process, despite the verdict delivered by the British justice system in October.

Given the large number of unanswered questions regarding the IOPC's processes and decision-making in this case, I find this ongoing pursuit of NX121 to be extremely concerning.

Comments made by the IOPC's lead investigator at the time, Sal Naseem, raised legitimate concerns that public pressure influenced decision making, as opposed to due and proper process. Mr Naseem is quoted as saying that it "was fed back to us... that if we hadn't done it [open a homicide investigation] at that time then it's likely there would have been a level of disorder ... things were on a knife edge".

Since those comments were aired in a November 2024 BBC Panorama documentary, the IOPC subsequently contradicted several of Mr Naseem's comments and continue to dispute Mr Naseem's account of these events, highlighting a number of serious inconsistencies. Many questions remain unanswered or unclear.

I wrote to you in November 2024 to raise these concerns and to ask you to launch an independent enquiry into the decision to charge NX121 - a request you rejected.

The way in which the IOPC investigate officer conduct should be directed by the appropriate guidelines and the evidence at hand - not public pressure, protests, or social media activity.

Elected politicians, social media, and campaign groups provided much commentary on the shooting of Mr Kaba, and it is a matter of public record that several of these stakeholders subsequently met the IOPC. Since that time, a great deal of information regarding Mr Kaba's extensive criminal background has been released into the public domain.

Given this further decision, I am now calling on you to order a full and thorough review of whether the IOPC is fit for purpose as an independent oversight body.

Our police officers, who bravely put themselves in harm's way every day to keep us safe, must be confident that if they find themselves subject to a misconduct complaint, their case will be treated fairly, objectively and handled swiftly. Equally, the public must be confident that their police officers are being fairly and are correctly held to account, in line with due process and without external influence.

It is clear this case has had an extremely damaging effect on public and officer confidence in the IOPC, raising serious questions on the extent to which the IOPC can continue to perform its role effectively.

I look forward to receiving your response.

Kind regards,

Susan Hall AM