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The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has found no evidence to undermine a Metropolitan Police officer’s assertions that he genuinely and reasonably believed that a woman’s life was in imminent danger when he fatally shot a 40 year old man. 

The conclusion follows an IPCC investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dean Joseph, in Islington, north London in the early hours of 5 September 2014. Mr Joseph was holding a woman at knifepoint at the time.

IPCC Commissioner Cindy Butts said:

"Mr Joseph’s death is a tragic loss for his family and friends, who have my sincere condolences.

“The IPCC has found no evidence to undermine the officer’s assertion that he genuinely and reasonably believed that the woman’s life was in imminent danger. The circumstances at the time meant that it was not feasible to use Taser as an alternative to firearms.

“Our assessment of the evidence was that the use of lethal force was necessary and reasonable.”

The IPCC upheld a complaint made by Mr Joseph’s family about the way the officers involved were allowed to confer when providing their accounts of the incident during the police post incident procedure (PIP).  Although there was no indication that officers breached the standards of professional behaviour when providing their accounts the investigation concluded that the type of conferring permitted could undermine both the credibility of the officers’ evidence and the overall integrity of the investigation.

Ms Butts added:

“The way in which the officers were allowed to confer after the shooting had the potential to damage the credibility of the officers’ evidence, the integrity of the investigation and ultimately damage public confidence and we upheld a complaint made by Mr Joseph’s family.

“As a result we recommended the force should minimise conferring when officers are providing their accounts after a fatal incident and that officers should not be provided with evidence about an incident before they provide their own accounts.”

The evidence revealed no indication that any officer might have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner which would justify disciplinary proceedings. As a result, no officer was placed under a notice of investigation.

Notes

The full list of conclusions and recommendations can be found in this summary and the full report can be accessed here.

The IPCC:

• examined the police response to the 999 call made reporting a disturbance at Shepperton Road, including the actions and decisions of the officers at the scene, tactics used, and the rationale for the use of lethal force
• examined the adequacy of medical care afforded to Mr Joseph by police after he was shot
• established the circumstances that led to Mr Joseph attending Shepperton Road on the evening of 4 September 2014 and the events at the address that led to the police response
• investigated the complaint from Mr Joseph’s family regarding the manner in which officers’ accounts were compiled in the PIP, including whether any conferring took place between officers, and any guidance given to them
• investigated whether any subject of the investigation had a case to answer for breaching the standards of professional behaviour and whether a criminal offence may have been committed