Azelle inquiry must answer tough questions

by: Helen Shaw
published: 4 September 2012

The public inquiry into the fatal shooting by Metropolitan police of Azelle Rodney opened on Monday.

This is the first time a public inquiry under the 2005 Inquiries Act has been commissioned to examine a death involving police use of lethal force – such deaths are normally scrutinised at an inquest in front of a jury.

Susan Alexander, Rodney’s mother, together with the other members of his family, have already waited more than seven years for answers to their questions. Rodney was shot six times at point blank range while sitting in a car that had been stopped by officers.

After his death, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) conducted an investigation and a file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). In July 2006 the CPS announced that there was “insufficient evidence” for a realistic prospect of convicting an over the shooting.

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