The public inquiry in the death of Anthony Grainger begins today in Liverpool.

The thirty six year old father of two from Lower Broughton was shot dead by a Greater Manchester Police marksman during a planned operation to arrest a group of men on suspicion of conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

 An officer from the force fired through the car’s front window, and police threw a CS gas canister into the vehicle. They shot out its tyres in an operation that caused onlookers to scream in terror. 

No firearms were found in the car, on Grainger, nor at any address linked to him after the incident at the village of Culcheth in March 2012.

In January 2015, the case brought against the then police chief Peter Fahy over the events collapsed after the judge accepted an ‘abuse of process’ argument from his defence team.

The previous year,  it was announced by the CPS that the marksman who shot dead the unarmed man would not be prosecuted but that the Greater Manchester Police force would be charged under health and safety law.

Sir Peter Fahy had claimed that he could not get a fair trial because some of the evidence the court was to rely upon was ‘secret’. In the end the prosecution chose to offer no evidence and the case was dismissed.
The inquiry which was announced last year by the then Home Secretary Theresa May is expected to last fourteen weeks.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here