Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy is to be charged for safety breaches over the shooting of Anthony Grainger – but the marksman who took the fatal shot will face no action.
Anthony Grainger (pictured above), 36, was shot in the chest by a Greater Manchester Police marksman in March 2012 as part of a planned operation to try to arrest suspected armed robbers.
Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy will be charged and is accused of failing to discharge a duty under the health and safety at work act as he is “corporation sole” for the force, the crown prosecution service (CPS) said.
This is a legal status and means that he does not share criminal liability or will personally have to appear in court.
However the CPS said that the marksman who killed Mr Grainger should not face charges for murder, manslaughter or misconduct in public office, because a jury would be likely to accept that he believed his actions were necessary.
The CPS said: “In the circumstances of this case, our assessment of the evidence is that a jury would accept that the officer did believe his actions were necessary and that the level of force used in response to the threat as he perceived it to be was proportionate.”
I expected this, you can’t get justice in this country, you’ve got no chance. Anthony Grainger’s cousin
The statement added that there was “insufficient evidence” to prosecute the officer for gross negligence manslaughter or misconduct in public office.
Grainger was shot dead after his car was stopped as part of a planned operation in Culcheth, Cheshire, in March 2012. It later emerged that the unarmed father of two had earlier been wrongly suspected of stealing a memory stick containing the names of police informants.
His cousin Wesley Ahmed, 45, said that the family would now consider bringing a private prosecution against the officer who fired the fatal shot, and possibly commanders who led the operation.
“I expected this, you can’t get justice in this country, you’ve got no chance,” Mr Ahmed said. “I have been campaigning all over the country and none of the other deaths in custody families have managed to get justice.
“It’s set for the police to be immune from prosecution. They have no accountability when it comes to a death in custody.
“If it was fraud, they would go to prison straightaway. People have been fighting for 20-odd years, you can’t win. I thought Anthony’s case might be the first one to crack the mould because they shot and killed an unarmed man.
“Now we’ll look at a private prosecution. If I have a setback or a knock back it makes me stronger and more defiant. There has got to be a way to beat the system.”
An investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is also underway, but its findings will not be published until after the legal proceedings are complete.
Alison Saunders, director of public prosecutions, said: “After careful consideration we have decided that the chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, Sir Peter Fahy, should be prosecuted as a corporation sole for failing to discharge a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
“In addition to every employer’s responsibility towards their employees, the law also imposes a duty to ensure that work is carried out in a way that ensures, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons outside of their employment are not exposed to risk.
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“The chief officers of police forces are treated as employers for this purpose. It is alleged that there were serious deficiencies in the preparation for this operation that unnecessarily exposed individuals to risk.”
The first hearing will be on 10 February, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. If the conviction is successful, the force would face an unlimited fine.
The CPS has used health and safety laws in 2007 to prosecute police over the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. It was fined £175,000 and ordered to pay £385,000 in costs.
However, the basis for the prosecution under health and safety laws in the Grainger case is different to that in the De Menezes case.
Anthony Grainger was shot dead by officers from Greater Manchester Police after his car was stopped as part of a planned operation in Culcheth, Cheshire, in March 2012.
After Mr Grainger died, claims emerged that the father-of-two had earlier been wrongly suspected of stealing a memory stick containing the names of police informants.
The Mail on Sunday reported that he and two associates were put under surveillance in an operation involving nearly 100 officers, and that armed teams were briefed that he might open fire at police, despite there being no evidence of him having access to weapons.
The fatal shot was fired by an officer carrying a Heckler and Koch MP5 carbine and this passed through the car windscreen and hit Mr Grainger in the chest while he was in the driver's seat. The car had been stolen and had false registration plates.
Mr Grainger was described as an "odd job man" who was born in Salford and lived in Deane Church Lane, Bolton.
He was a defendant in a multimillion-pound drugs trial which led to a juror being jailed for contempt of court.
Joanne Fraill, 40, was sentenced to eight months in prison in 2011 after she admitted exchanging Facebook messages with co-defendant Jamie Sewart, 34, who had already been acquitted in August 2010 at Minshull Street Crown Court.
Mr Grainger was cleared of conspiracy to supply drugs but admitted handling stolen cars in connection with the case and was jailed for 20 months.