3rd July 2014

 

10am, Wednesday 9 July 2014
Court 76, Royal Courts of Justice – Admin Court
(Court 75 overspill)

The judicial review into the inquest of Mark Duggan will begin on Wednesday 9 July and is scheduled to last for two days. 

The family is challenging the conclusion of lawful killing as returned by the jury at the inquest into Mark Duggan’s death.  The legal challenge being brought will be seeking to establish that the jury were misdirected in law by the Coroner and consequently the finding of lawful killing is unsound and should be overturned.

The family will argue that the Coroner ought to have directed the jury that if they were sure Mr Duggan was not holding a gun, then they could not return a lawful killing conclusion.

Another ground of challenge is that the jury should have been told that if the shooter (officer V53) made a mistake of fact, he could rely on that fact only if the mistake was a reasonable one for him to have made. The jury should not have concluded the killing was lawful if it was justified only by an unreasonable mistaken belief.

Carole Duggan, Mark’s aunt said:

“We as a family, like a lot of the public, were shocked by the outcome of the inquest into Mark’s death – that the jury could have reached a lawful killing conclusion when they also concluded Mark was unarmed.

“We are equally shocked by the Coroner’s report, as his concerns, based on his recommendations, mirror exactly the concerns of the family before the inquest had even begun.  As a result we are further confused by the contradictions in between the jury’s findings and the detailed Coroners report.”

INQUEST has been working with the family of Mark Duggan since his death in August 2011. The family is represented by INQUEST Lawyers Group members Marcia Willis Stewart and Cyrilia Davies from Birnberg Peirce solicitors and barristers Michael Mansfield QC of Mansfield Chambers, Leslie Thomas of Garden Court Chambers and Adam Straw of Doughty Street Chambers.

Ends