Chris Kaba was identified as a "core member" of one of London’s most dangerous gangs, according to reports

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy had argued that ‘open and transparent public disclosure’ of Mr Kaba’s bad character would ‘significantly reduce the risk of unrest on the streets of London and keep the public safe’.

What happened in the run-up to the shooting?

Officers did not know who was driving the Audi Q8 on the night Mr Kaba died, but they did know it had been used as a getaway car in a shooting in Brixton, south London, the night before.

Mr Kaba had been on the phone and realised he was being followed saying to a friend.

During the ‘hard stop’ Mr Kaba had just reversed a short distance backwards, striking the front of a police vehicle that was blocking it in, having previously attempted to drive forwards.

Mr Blake was sat in a marked BMW car, waiting on a residential road in Streatham as a police helicopter hovered overhead.

He managed to created a block at the front of Audi after pulling into the road, with an unmarked Volvo behind Mr Kaba’s car.

It came to a halt, but was not tight enough to stop him reversing which is necessary to stop the car from being used as a weapon.

Armed officers burst out of their vehicles shouting ‘show me your f***cking hands’ while trying to drag Kaba out.

Chris Kaba at the Oval nightclub in Hackney (Picture: CPS/PA Wire)

But Mr Kaba tried to ram through, smashing into the BMW while Mr Blake took a position with his rifle and aimed his weapon.

While he was repositioning himself, he heard the revving of engines and tyre screeches and though the Audi was moving at ‘great speed’.

Mr Blake said he thought officers were in danger of being run over, and did not know the police BMW had tightened the gap meaning the Audi could not go anywhere.

He said he became ‘filled with dread’ the suspect would kill his colleagues, and he fired a bullet which pierced the Audi windscreen and landed in Mr Kaba’s head.

It was the first time since joining the firearms in 2016 that he had fired at a suspect.

How have people reacted to the verdict?

Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley gave a statement outside of Scotland Yard afterwards, saying: ‘He (Blake) has acted with professionalism and dignity throughout… I worry about the lack of support officers face for doing their best.

Protests gather outside the Old Bailey following the verdict (Picture: Reuters)

Mark Rowley said Martyn Blake ‘acted with professionalism’ (Picture: ZUMA Press Wire/Shu)

‘But most of all, I worry for the public. The more we crush the spirit of good officers, the less they can fight crime. That risks London becoming less safe.’

During the hearing, Mr Blake, 40, appeared to be briefly overcome with emotion as the jury returned its verdict.

He breathed out, puffed his cheeks and turned away in an apparent show of relief.

The family of Mr Kaba, who sat in the well of the court, sat in stony silence and made no immediate reaction. 

Protests formed outside the Old Bailey yesterday following the jury’s verdict, with Mr Kaba’s family saying they are ‘devastated’ and fell ‘the deep pain of injustice’.

They said the verdict was a failure ‘for all those affected by police violence’, adding that ‘no family should endure the unimaginable grief we have faced’.