'MURDER' COP
Met Police officer charged with murder of Chris Kaba is named as Martyn Blake after rapper shot dead by armed cops
Shooting in 2022 caused widespread outrage that was intensified when cops handed guns in following murder charge
A MET Police officer charged with murdering rapper Chris Kaba who was shot dead by armed cops has been named.
The cop, 40, was previously only referred to as NX121 but a judge lifted reporting restrictions in the interests of open justice.
3
He has today been named as Martyn Blake following a hearing at the Old Bailey.
Kaba, 24, was blasted in the head by a single gunshot following a pursuit in Streatham, South London, on September 5, 2022.
He had been driving a dark Audi car when he was followed by an unmarked police car with no lights or sirens.
The rapper turned into Kirkstall Gardens and collided with a marked police car.
Read more news
Blake allegedly fired one shot that passed through the windscreen of the Audi he was driving and hit him in the head.
His vehicle had been stopped following the activation of an automatic number plate recognition camera, it has been alleged.
It later emerged the Audi Kaba was driving, which did not belong to him, had been linked by police to a firearms incident the previous day.
The dad-to-be was unarmed when he was shot dead, the police watchdog previously revealed.
Most read in The Sun
No firearms were found during a search of the Audi or at the scene.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct said at the time: A detailed search of the scene and surrounding area was completed last night.
Chris Kaba's mum weeps ‘my heart is broken’ after dad-to-be is shot dead by cops
"No non-police issue firearm has been recovered from the vehicle or the scene."
Blake was charged after the police watchdog handed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Following the move, firearms officers handed their weapons in as part of a protest.
The officer was initially identified only as NX121, but Recorder of London Mark Lucraft KC lifted the ban.
He ruled that naming him, as is normal practice in criminal cases involving adult defendants, posed no real or immediate risk to his life or that of his family.
Blake's home address or any image or description of him cannot be published.
A trial is due to begin on October 2 after he today pleaded not guilty to murder.
3
3
Topics