Mother says barrister posed no danger when he was shot dead

THE mother of a barrister shot dead by police at the end of a five-hour siege claimed her son posed no danger to the public when he was killed, it was reported yesterday.

Four Scotland Yard officers were fully justified in opening fire after Mark Saunders, 32, levelled his 12-bore shotgun at them, an inquest jury ruled last week.

But the operation on May 6, 2008, at the high-flying barrister’s 2.2m flat in Markham Square, Chelsea, was marred with tactical blunders.

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Officers tried to negotiate with Mr Saunders, an alcoholic, but they did not allow his wife Elizabeth or close friend Michael Bradley to defuse the stand-off at an early stage.

The jury, sitting at Westminster Coroner’s Court, also found there was confusion among senior commanders over who was responsible for 59 armed officers who had 109 weapons between them.

The jurors said not enough weight was given to the fact Mr Saunders was clearly drunk, depressed and vulnerable.

Yesterday, in an interview with a Sunday newspaper, Mr Saunders’ mother Rosemary said officers should have allowed her daughter-in-law to speak with her son.

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Speaking from her home in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, Mrs Saunders told the newspaper: “Mark was not in a proper aiming position when he was killed.

“He was facing a line of unoccupied houses. At that stage it was under control; he was not a risk to the public. At the beginning (yes) but by the time they killed him he was posing no danger.”

She added: “It should have been managed better. It should never have got to that point (where he was shot).”

Following the inquest, her son’s wife Elizabeth said she respected the jury’s findings.

The coroner, Dr Paul Knapman, wrote to the Home Secretary Theresa May saying that police marksmen cannot “see the wood for the trees” because of reams of complex guidelines.

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