A misconduct hearing for a firearms officer who fatally shot a man during a foiled prison break in north London has been discontinued.
The Met Police officer, known as W80, shot Jermaine Baker dead as police prevented the plot to snatch two prisoners from a van near Wood Green Crown Court in December 2015.
W80 had faced a misconduct hearing, after years of legal battles in the case, after being accused of breaching professional standards regarding his use of force.
But the misconduct hearing at Palestra House was thrown out on Wednesday a little more than week after it finally started.
Chairman of the hearing panel Chris McKay said: "The decision of the panel is that we find there is no case for W80 to answer in these proceedings and accordingly the case against W80 is dismissed.
"The full reasons will follow as the rules provide in the next five working days."
Father-of-two Mr Baker was one of three men waiting in a stolen Audi A6 to break out two prisoners including Izzet Eren, a senior member of the notorious Tottenham Turks gang.
Mr Baker, from Tottenham, north London, was shot at close range by the counter-terrorism specialist firearms officer, who thought he was reaching for a gun.
Mr Baker was unarmed and an imitation firearm was later found in the back of the Audi, the misconduct hearing previously heard.
The hearing was told that W80 shot him despite being able to see his empty hand and no sign of a weapon.
It was also claimed that W80 did not tell the suspect to put his hands on the dashboard before he shot him, or if he did, he did not give him enough time to comply with the instruction before opening fire.
W80 was in the "highest tier" of armed officers in the country and had been trained to carry a gun since 1998.
The misconduct hearing was discontinued after an application of no case to answer made on behalf of W80 by Duncan Penny KC.
The decision comes nearly 10 years after Mr Baker died and following years of legal battles around the case.
Prosecutors said in 2017 that there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges over the shooting, but a police watchdog directed that the officer should face misconduct proceedings.
This sparked a lengthy legal battle between watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and the officer, who was supported by the Met.
In 2023, the Supreme Court found in the IOPC's favour, meaning the misconduct hearing would go ahead.
There was also a public inquiry into Mr Baker's death, that concluded in 2022 that he had been lawfully killed.
Mr McKay said it had been a "complex case" with more than 3,000 pages of documents placed before the panel.
Paula Dodds, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, welcomed the decision to discontinue the hearing but criticised the decision to bring the case in the first place.
She said: "Being a firearms officer in London is one of the world's toughest jobs. Officers, who volunteer for this role, know the responsibility and accountability that comes with it.
“Our police officers, however, must also have confidence that they have the legal protections needed to do the difficult and dangerous jobs society expects of them.
“The actions and arguments from the Independent Office for Police Conduct have been questionable from start to finish. We have to ask who holds them to account for putting a courageous colleague through the past 10 years of torment?
“Police officers are the most accountable of public services. But how can it be right for a police officer protecting the public from dangerous criminals to have such a case hanging over them for a decade? It's hugely concerning that this case lasted so long."
Mr Baker’s mother Margaret Smith said the decision to discontinue the hearing was “no surprise whatsoever”saying: “Since the day almost 10 years ago that my son Jermaine was shot and killed by W80, the Metropolitan Police has taken every possible step to avoid their officer or their organisation from facing scrutiny and accountability for his death.”
"That included going all the way to the Supreme Court to avoid W80 facing disciplinary proceedings,” she added.
"Against that background, my family and I never had any faith in this gross misconduct hearing, which was conducted by the Met Police; we did not attend the hearing, and the outcome today comes as no surprise whatsoever.
"We have heard the evidence about what happened to Jermaine and we know that there was no justification for his death. My family and I will remember Jermaine as the man we knew.
"The multiple legal processes we have had to endure over the last 10 years have prevented us grieving his loss. That will be our focus now and we ask to be left in private to do so."
