What happened to Martyn Blake is wrong at almost every angle, yet there is no sympathy for him from the CPS and Labour MPs, says Nigel Farage

What happened to Martyn Blake is wrong at almost every angle, yet there is no sympathy for him from the CPS and Labour MPs, says Nigel Farage

WATCH NOW: Nigel Farage discusses the fresh government probe into firearms officers

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Nigel Farage

By Nigel Farage


Published: 23/10/2024

- 20:24

I don't want anyone to go through what this police sergeant has been through. It just seems to me to be wrong at almost every angle

Last night we majored on the Sergeant Blake case. I said how sorry I felt for him. A man who'd been put through hell and his family, too, over the course of the last couple of years.

And yet, from the iOPC and indeed the Crown Prosecution Service, no sympathy for him whatsoever. Just sympathy for the family of Chris Kaba.


Things get worse. We learn now that the police officer faces possible misconduct hearings. We also learn that the jury wanted, with their verdict the unanimous verdict, a note read out which said they did not believe this case should ever have come to court. And yet the judge chose not to read it out.

And I did wonder why it all seems so one sided that nothing that Kaba had done in his long criminal record, which began at the age of 13, which included stabbings, beatings, firearms offences and of course, just three days before the incident on Streatham Hill. The fact that he'd fired five shots, three of which had hit a man, I did wonder why everything about him was kept quiet.

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And yet the anonymity of the police officer, which his counsel had begged to remain secret, had been denied by the judge.

Well, we learn now there is a £10,000 bounty on his head. We learned that his kids have had to be removed from school, and frankly, I could not feel more sorry for this man who was simply doing his job.

But there was, unusually for me, sitting in the House of Commons this afternoon, a piece of good news, because this is what the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: "When officers act in the most dangerous situations on behalf of the state, it is vital that those officers and their families are not put in further danger during any subsequent legal proceedings.

"So we will therefore introduce a presumption of anonymity for firearms officers subject to criminal trial following a police shooting in the course of their professional duties, up to the point of conviction."

In light of what's happened, that must be a good thing. They probably heard me, I was one of the loudest cheers there in the chamber.

I don't want anyone to go through what this police sergeant has been through. It just seems to me to be wrong at almost every angle.

And yet not everybody was impressed. Hard left Labour MP Kim Johnson rose in the debate and said this: "I'd like to send my condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of Chris Kaba, particularly this week. While the media are using racist gang tropes to justify the killing of Chris Kaba, 1900 people have died in police custody since 1990.

"And I would say that the police do have protections, you know, we know that our black communities are over policed and under supported. So can the Home Secretary give us assurances that we and our communities are kept safe, and that extra protections are not given to the police because they already have the protections they need."

Well, again, the same line there, no sympathy at all for the police sergeant and his family, but plenty for Chris Kaba.

But here's the really interesting thing. Why did the Crown Prosecution Service in the first place push for a murder conviction as opposed to a manslaughter one?

And frankly, given the fact that the Crown Prosecution Service at no point has showed any regret for pushing this forward, I'm asking you, is the Crown Prosecution Service fit for purpose?

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