Prosecutions being considered following ‘unlawful killing’ verdict on PC Terry

Clear issues have been raised for all forces to consider, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has said, after the coroner ruled that the fatal shooting of PC Ian Terry during a firearms exercise was unlawful.

PC Terry was not wearing body armour when he was shot in the chest by his colleague, known only as ‘Chris’, with specialist ammunition called round irritant personnel (RIP). ‘Chris’ told the court that he pulled the trigger “instinctively”, but at some point he had broken the “golden rule” and taken the security catch off his weapon.

IPCC Commissioner Naseem Malik said: “PC Terry’s death was the first time a police firearms officer has died in such circumstances. His death has been the subject of a thorough investigation by the IPCC and a detailed inquest. The inquest jury has returned a verdict of unlawful killing in relation to the shooting of PC Terry and the planning and conduct of the training exercise on June 9, 2008.
“Following that verdict, the coroner has referred the matter back to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for its consideration. In addition, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has yet to determine whether it will be bringing any charges in relation to the incident. Due to these outstanding matters, I am not in a position yet to make our main findings publicly available. We must now await the CPS and HSE decisions.

“What I can say now is that our investigation identified clear issues, not just for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) but for police forces across England and Wales, around firearms training. It is fully appreciated that police firearms officers have a difficult role and they must be trained in realistic situations to ensure they are ready when needed to meet the dangerous challenges we expect them to face to keep us safe. But in any training, the safety of the participants must be paramount.”
Some of the IPCC’s findings are still subject to consideration by other agencies and are not yet being made public, but some positive changes have already been made.

Following PC Terry’s death, the IPCC liaised with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and this resulted in an immediate circulation to all forces to consider suspension of the use of practice RIP rounds in firearms training. This was followed by ACPO advice on replacing the practice rounds with blank rounds.

“I applaud ACPO’s quick response to this tragedy. I believe ACPO should now consider incorporating this advice into the National Police Firearms Training Curriculum,” added Ms Malik.
GMP Chief Constable Peter Fahy, said: “Ian Terry was a well liked and highly-respected police officer who’s death has meant a great loss to the force and his loving family.

“Ian was a proud member of GMP’s Tactical Firearms Unit, a team of 400 officers who make a huge contribution to tackling crime in Greater Manchester.

“I would like to personally apologise to Ian’s family for GMP’s failure to keep him safe on June 9, 2008. I accept that some of our systems and practices were inappropriate and did play a part in Ian’s death.

“This inquest has been held to ensure we all understand why Ian’s death happened and what can be done to prevent such a tragedy happening again.

“Since Ian’s death, GMP has made a number of changes to policies and re-enforced existing policies to ensure training exercises are carried out in the safest way possible.

“As a force we need to continue to carry out firearms training if we are to keep the public in Greater Manchester safe. However, we need to do everything we can to ensure this training is delivered safely, and everything possible is done to minimise the risks involved.

“Even though the inquest has concluded, there are still inquiries to be carried out and possible further proceedings. It would therefore be inappropriate for me to comment further until the CPS and HSE have concluded their investigation.”