A former Scotland Yard Detective has demanded a public inquiry into the Crown Prosecution Service’s treatment of Sergeant Martyn Blake after the 40-year-old was acquitted of the murder of Chris Kaba.
Blake was cleared on Monday following an extensive trial into the events of September 5, 2022, after Kaba was shot dead during an armed vehicle stop in Streatham.
Following the trial’s verdict, police have released further details about Kaba’s criminal background – revealing that the 24-year-old was a member of an infamous gang and had shot a man in both legs at the Oval Space nightclub in Hackney on August 30, 2022.
Kaba died before being charged for the shooting, but was later named on the charge sheet for the trial. Three others involved in the 2022 incident were convicted and are in prison.
Mike Neville has called for a ‘public inquiry’ into the CPS’s treatment of Sergeant Martyn Blake
PA / GB News
Discussing Blake’s trial, former Metropolitan Police detective Mike Neville claimed that the 40-year-old has been put through “two years of hell”, and called for a “public inquiry” into the CPS’s treatment of the police officer.
Neville told GB News: “How can the Crown Prosecution Service make this decision? The fact that the jury took about three hours, and I imagine the decision was almost made and they thought, you know what, we’ve got to sit here for some time because it’s just so obvious that this officer is not guilty.
“Sergeant Blake has gone through two years of hell, his family know there’s a continuing threat to him, and I think there should be an inquiry into the CPS to make to see who made these decisions.”
When questioned by GB News host Ben Leo on the reaction to Kaba’s death at the time, notably ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Neville fumed that those who spoke out should “hang their heads in shame”.
Dashcam footage released by police shows the moments just before Chris Kaba is shot by police marksman Martyn Blake
PA
Neville raged: “It’s quite incredible, isn’t it? Sadiq Khan would have been briefed by the Commissioner. And all these politicians should hang their heads in shame.”
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Turning the discussion to Blake’s future within the force, Ben asked if he will “return to frontline duty” following his acquittal.
Criticising the CPS’s decision to name Blake in the Kaba trial, Neville explained: “There will certainly be a risk assessment that the Commissioner and the senior officers have got to do.
“But it’s not just him, of course. It’s all his family as well. Naming him was completely unnecessary. It was a wicked and spiteful act, and those who made that decision should also be reviewed.”
Highlighting the “dangerous society” Britain has become in recent years, Neville claimed that police officers are “bottom of the stack” in the eyes of the establishment.
Mike Neville says politicians such as Jeremy Corbyn should ‘hang their heads in shame’ following Blake’s acquittal
GB News
Neville told GB News: “We live in a dangerous society. We ask officers to drive at high speeds, we ask officers to carry weapons and make life and death decisions that most people never have to make.
“We’d never expect a sergeant to be charged with murder if they did something like this. But of course, police officers are working class and they’re at the bottom of the stack.
“But it isn’t good enough. And this incident – well done to Sergeant Blake for doing your duty. But the public can just see that the establishment is against them, in my view.”