London ‘is a safer place’ without Chris Kaba, says Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick

Conservative leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick has said London “is a safer place” without Chris Kaba and he wants to raise the threshold for prosecuting firearms officers.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced on Wednesday firearms officers on trial over police shootings will remain anonymous during criminal proceedings.

She also ordered a review into the accountability of firearms officers – and confidence in policing – after police marksman Martyn Blake was cleared by a jury on Monday of the murder of Chris Kaba in south London in 2022.

Mr Jenrick, who is competing with Kemi Badenoch to be Tory leader, said he welcomed Ms Cooper’s announcement but would “like to go further”.

He told Sky News: “I’d like to see that the bar for criminal prosecutions for firearms officers be raised significantly because… they do an extremely challenging job.

“There are relatively few people who are willing to come forward and do that job today, and those that do should not be worried that when they make those split second decisions, they’ll then get dragged through the mud and through the courts as a result.”

Sergeant Blake’s barrister described Kaba as the “principal gunman” of the Brixton Hill-based 67 gang, which has more than 50 known members.

Mr Jenrick said: “London is a safer place without this man.”

He criticised the Mayor of London for saying he was “mourning Chris Kaba”, adding: “That’s another misjudgement by Sadiq Khan.”

“Nobody should mourn the death of this individual,” Mr Jenrick continued.

“Look at what we’ve learnt about him. Now look at the videos that we’ve seen of him shooting, stabbing.

“This is somebody who was a danger to people across the city. London is a safer place without this man.

“What Sadiq Khan should be doing, given that he has responsibility for the police in this city, is getting behind good police officers like Sergeant Blake, backing them to the hilt and making sure they can get on with their lives and their service to our country.”

Read more:
Why did Chris Kaba’s killer stand trial?
Chris Kaba was core member of gang

After Sergeant Blake was cleared, reporting restrictions were lifted to reveal Kaba was a core member of a notorious south London gang and was accused of shooting a rival in a nightclub days before he was killed.

The 24-year-old, whose street name was “Itch”, arrived at the nightclub in the same Audi Q8 he was driving on the night he was shot, and it was used as a getaway car the night before his death after three masked men fired a shotgun twice outside a Brixton school.

The car was also linked to a shooting in southeast London the year before.

Kaba was due to face a civil court hearing 10 days after his death, where police would make an application for a gang injunction, which is used to place restrictions on people involved in gang violence.

He had previously been the subject of an interim version of the order, but it had elapsed while he was in prison for other convictions.

Conservative members are voting to elect the party’s new leader – with Mr Jenrick and Ms Badenoch the final two candidates. The winner will be announced on 2 November.