A firearms officer fatally shot a 28-year-old during a foiled prison break, despite being able to see his empty hand and no sign of a weapon, a misconduct hearing has been told.
The officer, known only as W80, shot Jermaine Baker, from Tottenham, north London, as police stopped a plot to snatch two prisoners from a van near Wood Green Crown Court in December 2015.
Father-of-two Mr Baker was shot at close range by counter-terrorism specialist firearms officer W80, who thought he was reaching for a gun.
Mr Baker, who was sitting in the front passenger seat of a stolen Audi A6, was unarmed and an imitation firearm was later found in the back of the Audi.
The misconduct proceedings involving W80 began on Monday after years of legal battles over the case, in which he is accused of breaching professional standards over the use of force.
At the start of the case, chairman of the hearing panel Chris McKay set out details of the accusations against W80.
It is claimed that it was unreasonable for the marksman to mistakenly believe that Mr Baker had a gun.
The hearing was told that W80 opened fire immediately after opening the passenger door of the car, and that Mr Bakerâs left hand was raised and empty when he was shot.
W80 did not see a weapon or anything resembling a weapon, the panel was told.
It is claimed that W80 did not tell him to put his hands on the dashboard before he shot him, or if he did, he did not give Mr Baker enough time to comply with the instruction before opening fire.
W80 was a counter-terrorism firearms officer in the âhighest tierâ of armed officers in the country and had been trained to carry a gun since 1998.
Opening the case, Gerry Boyle KC, counsel for the Metropolitan Police, went through details of several internal briefings before the operation to stop the jail break.
He said that one at 3am on December 11 left W80 believing that the men in the Audi would be armed.
âAt the end of this briefing his state of mind was that the attack was likely to happen, that it would be undertaken by a group of experienced and dangerous individuals who would be armed and would use firearms in the course of the offence,â Mr Boyle said.
When armed officers surrounded the Audi, the windows were steamed up meaning they could not see inside.
W80 previously said that he opened the passenger door and saw a man with his face covered.
He said he repeatedly asked Mr Baker to put his hands on the dashboard, but the 28-year-old moved his hands up towards a bag slung across his shoulder, and he was shot.
Mr Boyle said: âW80 saw a man sat in the passenger seat with nothing in his hands.
âThe evidence suggests that W80 did not lose sight of Mr Bakerâs hands at any stage, they were therefore visible and empty. But W80 discharged his firearm.â
The two-week misconduct hearing comes nearly 10 years after Mr Baker died, after years of legal battles around the case.
Prosecutors said in 2017 that there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges over the shooting, but a police watchdog directed that the officer should face misconduct proceedings.
This sparked a lengthy legal battle between watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and the officer, who was supported by the Met.
In 2023, the Supreme Court found in the IOPCâs favour, meaning the misconduct hearing would go ahead.
There was also a public inquiry into Mr Bakerâs death, that concluded in 2022 that he had been lawfully killed.
