Not guilty: jury clears companions of police shooting victim Anthony Grainger
Article published: Sunday, September 23rd 2012
The family of a man shot dead by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have renewed calls for justice after companions present with him at the time of the killing were cleared of planning an armed robbery.
A firearms officer shot unarmed father-of-two Anthony Grainger through a car windscreen when armed police surrounded his vehicle in a “pre-planned operation” in a car park in the village of Culcheth, Cheshire on 3 March.
Two men accompanying Grainger in the car, David Totton of Rochdale Road and Jospeh Travers, of no fixed address, were arrested at the scene. A third man, Robert Rimmer of Ainsbrook Avenue, New Moston, was also arrested the next day.
Grainger and the other men had been under surveillance for a number of months before the shootings. Police said they suspected the men of conspiracy to commit a robbery.
No weapons were found in the car and a jury unanimously threw out the charges after one hour’s deliberation on Friday afternoon. Family and supporters of Grainger, who held regular protests outside Manchester’s Crown Court throughout the three week trial, reacted with relief.
Wesley Ahmed, Grainger’s cousin, spoke to Mule while handing out campaign leaflets to the public in Salford Precinct the day after the verdict. “You would not believe the way we felt. I burst into tears to be honest because of all the pressure that’s been going on.
“I’ve had my head on a block for the last seven months trying to rectify what the police and the press have done to our Anthony.
“They’ve demonised the character of the person who they’ve murdered and they’ve thrown it out that he’s an armed robber and drug dealer when we knew he wasn’t.”
Grainger’s mother, Marina Schofield, said the news was “fantastic. It’s fantastic, it was a real good day yesterday for the three lads. Two of them, all they’d ever done was witness my son’s murder.”
An investigation into the death has been launched by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), who are expected to pass a report to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider the evidence for charges.
Following the verdict Deputy Chief Constable Ian Hopkins told the Press Association, “As there is an independent investigation into police actions being carried out by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is pertinent to the case that was brought to court, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
An IPCC report found that 333 people died in custody between 1998 and 2010, of whom 20 were killed while in contact with GMP, the second highest number of deaths in the country outside the London Met. No officers were ever successfully prosecuted.
The family wants the responsible officers charged with murder and are working closely with United Friends and Family, a support organisation for people affected by deaths while in contact with the police.
Schofield said the family was in contact with the relatives of Mark Duggan, Azelle Rodney and Christopher Alder, and would present a petition to the government on 27 October. She said, “We’re all going to Downing Street at the end of October with a petition with thousands of names on. This government’s got to wake up now and get rid of rogue police officers”.
Ahmed said, “that march is to go to Downing Street and let the government know. What are they going to do about it? Why are the police unaccountable for what they do, when we’re not? We’ve got to go by the law, so should they.”
Richard Goulding
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