It is difficult to believe that anyone assessing the facts of the shooting of Chris Kaba by the armed police offer Martyn Blake could disagree with Blake’s acquittal. The car Mr Kaba had been driving was linked to a firearms incident. When armed police attempted to stop him — screaming “ARMED POLICE” as they did so — Kaba made the terrible decision to ram his way out. Blake shot him and immediate first aid attempts failed.

Does that sound like murder to you?

One could add that Mr Kaba had spent time in jail for possessing an imitation firearm. Various reports from 2022 and 2023 associate him with a murder plot — carried out just days before Kaba’s death — which has led to the convictions of several men. He was a prominent member of the “67” gang, which has been linked to several murders — murders which have fuelled seemingly endless boasts in their rap songs. 

It remains very sad that Mr Kaba’s surroundings and influences convinced him, like thousands of other young men, that the way to be a strong man and a good friend was to perpetrate violence against other young men. As senselessly appalling as gang violence is, I’m sure that gang members persuade themselves that they are more akin to soldiers than mere criminals. This is a tragic phenomenon — a total waste of life.

Still, it does not excuse the disgraceful opportunism of commentators who continue to agitate against the police. It was bad enough when left-wingers, including MPs like Zarah Sultana and Bell Ribeiro-Addy, were agitating before the trial. Now, though, it is downright ludicrous.

The Runnymede Trust, a racial equality think tank funded by philanthropic organisations like the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, go for vagueness, bemoaning a shapeless “lack of police accountability” and adding “#JusticeForChrisKaba”. What “accountability” and “justice” has been lacking? Was a murder trial not enough?

Others are more clear. Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu — an author, lawyer and activist — proclaims that Mr Kaba was killed “in cold blood”. Martyn Blake had seconds in which to assess the threat posed by the driver of a car linked to firearms offences who was attempting to ram his way out of a police roadblock. Does that sound like he shot him “in cold blood”?

Kehinde Andrews is an academic and the author of the book The Psychosis of Whiteness (a book this author has reviewed in these pages). He has been promoting a rally against Blake’s acquittal, saying “without justice there should be no peace”. What cause Professor Andrews has for believing that “justice” has not been done remains a mystery, and the implications of advocating against “peace” are intriguing too. Ah, these academics and their rhetorical riddles.

Black Lives Matter UK are the organisers of the “emergency demo” Professor Andrews was promoted. “The police may have been acquitted of murder by the courts,” the organisation states, “But we find them guilty of systemic racism and violence.” Apparently, what is needed is “police and prison abolition to bring about the lasting change that Chris’ loved ones and many more deserve”.

It is interesting that Black Lives Matter UK — like Black Lives Matter in the US — really emphasise how much black lives matter when the police kill a black man but seem far less interested in “black lives” when they are taken as a result of gang violence. Surely black lives mattered when a member of the 67 gang murdered 18-year-old Cheyon Evans. Black lives mattered when, several months previously, Gavin Garraway, an innocent relative of a 67 member, was murdered in his car by members of a rival gang. This is the sort of violence that police officers like Martyn Blake have to deal with on a daily basis. Yet Black Lives Matter UK are unlikely to talk about such incidents. It makes the case for “police and prison abolition” seem preposterous and offensive.

… commentators and activists drumming up baseless outrage around the case are appalling opportunists

Politicians like Yvette Cooper and Sadiq Khan have made a point of emphasising the problem of the “lack of trust in the police” (to quote the latter). Of course, given the existence of scoundrels like David Carrick and Wayne Couzens, some amount of distrust for the police is understandable. Yet much of the rest is the product of disingenuous agitation.

Again, it is sad that Mr Kaba’s life encouraged him to make such bad decisions. It is sad — and very questionable given the facts — that Blake has had the stress of being dragged through the courts. But commentators and activists drumming up baseless outrage around the case are appalling opportunists — people whose troublemaking instincts are impervious to facts and due process. Remember this the next time they latch themselves onto a cause.