WIREDGOV

One Greater Manchester Police officer has been required to resign and another reprimanded over their roles in a firearms training exercise which resulted in the death of Pc Ian Terry.

Pc Terry died during a firearms training exercise on 9 June 2008 involving GMP's Tactical Firearms Unit (TFU) in a disused factory premises on Thorp Road, Newton Heath, Manchester.

The two officers faced a misconduct hearing organised by Greater Manchester Police. One officer, known by the pseudonym "Chris”, who fired the fatal shot, was found guilty of gross misconduct. The second officer, known by the pseudonym "Francis”, who was involved in the organisation of the training and the way it was conducted, pleaded guilty to gross misconduct at the start of the hearing.

The panel decided that "Francis” should be required to resign with immediate effect. The panel decided "Chris” should be given a reprimand. In its decision making the panel focused on the risks posed by the training exercise and the organisational failures by Greater Manchester Police.

IPCC Commissioner James Dipple-Johnstone said: "The IPCC investigation was concluded prior to the inquest into Pc Terry's death in 2010 and the fact it has taken more than four years to reach this conclusion must have compounded the distress of Pc Terry's family. Two officers have now been disciplined over their role in this tragedy. This training exercise was poorly planned and high risk. Everyone involved will have to live with the fact that a popular and well respected officer lost his life as a result of the mistakes made on that day.”

The IPCC conducted an independent investigation into Pc Terry's death and the resultant disciplinary matters in response to the IPCC's recommendations had to await the conclusion of an inquest and a subsequent Health and Safety Executive prosecution against Greater Manchester Police and two individual officers.

Greater Manchester Police pleaded guilty at court and received a fine, while "Francis” was found guilty of failing to discharge his duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act and fined. The second officer, known by the pseudonym "Eric”, was found not guilty. This officer retired prior to disciplinary matters.

The purpose of the training exercise was to practise tactics for challenging and arresting the occupants of a vehicle who were suspected of committing serious offences. Pc Terry and a colleague were in a Suzuki Vitara playing the role of a suspected criminal. Both officers were wearing thick jackets, balaclavas, gloves and special face masks designed to protect them from possible impact from paint rounds. Neither officer was wearing body armour.

'Chris', who was performing the role designed to disable the vehicle by blowing out the tyres, ran to an area next to the front passenger door of the Vitara carrying a shotgun loaded with Round Irritant Personnel (RIP) rounds. These training munitions were filled with an inert powder, whereas in a live operation they would be filled with CS incapacitant. RIP rounds are used in 12-bore shotguns and, according to the manufacturers, can penetrate timber up 65mm thick, cell type doors and fire doors clad with thin-steel plate on both sides.

'Chris' discharged the shotgun at Pc Terry from close range and he was struck directly in the left hand side of the chest, sustaining fatal injuries.

The investigation found that risk assessments for the training exercise were inadequate, the training had not been authorised and that RIP rounds only been introduced to firearms training a week before the incident.

Mr Dipple-Johnstone said: "This was a shocking wake-up call for Greater Manchester Police firearms unit. Firearms officers have a very difficult and dangerous job to do and their training does need to be challenging. However in this instance completely unnecessary risks were taken resulting in Pc Terry's death. His death was a terrible, personal tragedy for his family and my sympathies remain with them.