Police: Duggan was carrying loaded gun when killed
Mark Duggan was holding a loaded gun when he was shot dead by police in Tottenham last year, a prosecutor told jurors today. Simon Israel reports.
It is the first time police accounts have emerged of the shooting, which sparked four days of rioting throughout England in 2011.
The prosecutor told jurors at Snaresbrook Crown Court that Mr Duggan collected the gun in a shoebox some 12-16 minutes before he was shot. The man accused of supplying the weapon, Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, has denied supplying the weapon.
Jurors were not asked to decide on the rights or wrongs of Mr Duggan’s shooting during the trial, but instead to determine whether evidence in the case proves Mr Hutchinson-Foster supplied the gun to Mr Duggan.
Prosecutor Edward Brown told jurors that Mr Duggan was under surveillance on the day he acquired the gun, and on the previous day. Armed police followed the minicab Mr Duggan was in, but not into the road where the gun was allegedly handed over.
“The decision was taken to stop the minicab – a hard stop. The armed police surrounded the cab but as Mark Duggan got out he was seen to have a gun in hand,” Mr Brown said.
Dangerous situation
“The police marksmen were in no doubt that this was as dangerous position as possible – gun in hand, and he was seen to start to bring it around as if to shoot. The gun was loaded with a bullet,” Mr Brown told the court.
The jury was shown a photo of the gun in situ on the grass bank by the side of the road taken after the shooting and also a River Island shoebox lying on the floor by the back seat of the minicab.
The prosecution described how the weapon, a BBM Bruni Model 92, was in a black sock with the toe end ripped exposing the barrel of the gun. The heel was also open showing the cocking lever at the back of the gun. evidence’
Fingerprint evidence
“The evidence of those police officers most directly concerned with those moments will be heard but is limited to showing the presence of the gun on Mark Duggan at the scene of the shooting in Ferry Road, Tottenham, shortly after he had collected it from the accused,” Mr Brown said.
Jurors were also told that the prosecution planned to supply evidence that included mobile phone records, evidence concerning the tracking of the minicab and palm and fingerprints on the shoebox alleged to have held the gun.
The trial is expected to last three weeks.
Follow Simon Israel on Twitter: @simonisrael
