Anthony Grainger was shot and killed by an armed

Greater Manchester Police Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England. , Greater Manchester Police employed 6,866 police officers, 3,524 memb ...

officer in

Culcheth Culcheth is a village in the civil parish of Culcheth and Glazebury, in the Warrington district, in Cheshire, England, six miles (10 km) north-east of Warrington. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Culcheth is p ...

, Cheshire, England, on 3 March 2012. At the time, Grainger was unarmed. In January 2014, the

Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal adv ...

announced that they would be prosecuting Chief Constable

Peter Fahy Sir Peter Martin Fahy (born 18 January 1959 in London, England) is a retired senior British police officer. He was the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP), the United Kingdom's third largest police force. He retired from the po ...

under health and safety legislation over the shooting, and a full public inquiry into Grainger's death was concluded in July 2019, blaming the police. The inquiry report also found that Grainger was a career criminal who posed a potential threat to the police.

Background

In September 2011, Grainger had been arrested and questioned regarding the suspected theft from a police officer of a memory stick containing unencrypted details of 1,075 police informants. Grainger was formally cleared in early January 2012 after police found no evidence connecting him to the memory stick. Despite this, several days after officially clearing him of suspicion, Greater Manchester Police launched Operation Shire, a covert surveillance operation monitoring Grainger and two associates.

Death

Grainger was shot in the chest whilst sitting in a stolen

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

with two other occupants. An armed policeman fired a single shot from a semi-automatic only

Heckler & Koch MP5 The Heckler & Koch MP5 (, ) is a submachine gun developed in the 1960s by German firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It uses a similar modular design to the Heckler & Koch G3, and has over 100 variants and clones, including selective fire, Se ...

. The bullet went through the windscreen, and entered Grainger's heart and both his lungs. The other two occupants of the car, along with a third person, were tried and cleared of plotting a robbery.

Investigation

inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a cor ...

into the death was opened by Nicholas Rheinberg at

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

Coroner's Court on 5 March 2012. The inquest was

adjourned In parliamentary procedure, an adjournment ends a meeting. It could be done using a motion to adjourn. A time for another meeting could be set using the motion to fix the time to which to adjourn. Law In law, to adjourn means to suspend or postp ...

until an

IPCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to "provide governments at all levels with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies". The World M ...

investigation was completed. The IPCC concluded its investigation in July 2013, finding that the intelligence gathering under Operation Shire had been 'flawed', criticising the management of the armed police team sent in to apprehend Grainger, and concluding that the officer responsible for shooting Grainger 'may have a case to answer for regarding possible manslaughter'. These results were forwarded to the

, who have the authority to decide whether or not to pursue a case, and the coroner. Jonathan Bridge, solicitor for Grainger's family, complained that the investigation had been leaked, without being shown to the family. The CPS decided that the armed policeman who fired the shot would not be prosecuted. They decided that it would be unlikely a jury would find him guilty due to perceived threat. A CPS spokesman alleged that

failed to prepare properly for the operation, which left people at risk. Chief Constable

was charged under

Health and Safety at Work Act The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (c. 37) (HSWA 1974, HASWA or HASAWA) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that defines the fundamental structure and authority for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workp ...

as he was the

corporation sole A corporation sole is a legal entity consisting of a single ("sole") incorporated office, occupied by a single ("sole") natural person.

for Greater Manchester Police. The police force faced an unlimited fine if found guilty. However, in January 2015, William Boyce QC, at Liverpool Crown Court accepted an '

abuse of process Abuse is the act of improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, ...

' argument from the defence, The CPS had no choice but to accept the judge's decision and drop the case against the Greater Manchester Police.Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

Background

Death

Investigation

Aftermath

See also

References