This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/sep/18/mark-duggan-holding-gun-court

The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Mark Duggan was holding loaded gun when police shot him, court hears Mark Duggan was holding loaded gun when police shot him, court hears
(about 3 hours later)
Armed police shot Mark Duggan as he got out of a minicab holding a loaded gun and appeared to be about to shoot, a court has heard. Mark Duggan, whose shooting by police triggered the 2011 riots across England, was holding a loaded gun when confronted by armed police who feared he was about to open fire, a jury has heard.
The situation, which preceded rioting across the country in August last year, was "as dangerous a position as possible" for armed police, Snaresbrook crown court heard. Duggan was given the weapon just 15 minutes before he was shot, the trial of a man accused of passing him the gun was told.
At the trial of the man accused of passing the handgun to Duggan, the jury heard he collected it just 15 minutes before he was shot dead on 4 August 2011. Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, 30, denies selling or transferring a prohibited firearm, namely a BBM Bruni Model 92 handgun to Duggan.
The 29-year-old's death in Tottenham, north London, was followed by riots that swept across the capital and other major centres in England. A jury at Snaresbrook crown court, heard the prosecution say that Duggan travelled in a taxi to pick up the weapon, but was being followed by undercover officers on 4 August 2011, the day he was killed.
Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, 30, is charged with "selling or transferring a prohibited firearm" to Duggan between 28 July and 5 August 2011. Opening the case, prosecutor Edward Brown QC said Duggan was followed by armed police as he collected the gun from Hutchinson-Foster in Leyton, east London. As the vehicle Duggan was in reached Ferry Lane, Tottenham, north London officers decided to carry out a "hard stop"– that is force the vehicle to a halt.
Hutchinson-Foster, of no fixed abode, denies passing the BBM Bruni Model 92 handgun to Duggan, contrary to the Firearms Act 1968. Brown said: "The armed police surrounded the cab but as Mr Duggan got out he was seen to have the gun in his hand.
The court heard on Tuesday that Duggan had been under surveillance on 3 and 4 August. The prosecution claims he travelled in a minicab from Hoxton, east London, to collect the gun in a shoebox from Hutchinson-Foster in Leyton, before continuing to Tottenham. "The police marksmen were in no doubt that this was as dangerous a position as possible – gun in hand, and he was seen to start to bring it round as if to shoot. The gun was found to be loaded with a bullet."
Opening the case, the prosecutor Edward Brown QC said Duggan was followed by armed police who decided to carry out a "hard stop". Duggan was shot, Brown said, adding: "He fell to the ground fatally injured. From that moment until the ambulances and helicopter ambulance arrived they sought to resuscitate Mr Duggan but to no avail."
"The armed police surrounded the cab but as Mr Duggan got out he was seen to have the gun in his hand," he said. "The police marksmen were in no doubt that this was as dangerous a position as possible – gun in hand, and he was seen to start to bring it round as if to shoot." Brown said a River Island shoe box in the back of the taxi had contained the gun, and had Duggan's prints on it. His fingerprints were on the inside of the base of the box and "thus is consistent with having opened the box to get to the gun", Brown said.
Duggan was shot, Brown said. "He fell to the ground fatally injured. From that moment until the ambulances and helicopter ambulance arrived they sought to resuscitate Mr Duggan but to no avail." The crown alleges that Duggan and Hutchinson-Foster exchanged four phone calls in the hour before the weapon was collected. During a four-minute stop in Leyton, Duggan was seen being handed the shoe box, the crown says.
Brown told the court a BBM Bruni Model 92 handgun, modified to fire 9mm bullets, was recovered in Ferry Lane. Evidence would show it was passed by Hutchinson-Foster to Duggan 12 to 15 minutes before the fatal shooting, he said. Brown said Hutchinson-Foster admitted using the same gun in an attack on a barber just six days previously.
Hutchinson-Foster admitted using the same gun in an attack on a barber just six days previously, Brown said. He beat Peter Osadebay with the gun at the Lagoon Salon in Dalston, east London, on 29 July. Traces of Osadebay's blood were found on the gun when it was retrieved from Ferry Lane, as was Hutchinson-Foster's DNA, the court heard. He beat Peter Osadebay using the gun at the Lagoon Salon on Kingsland Road, Dalston, east London, on 29 July 2011. Traces of Osadebay's blood were found on the gun when it was retrieved from Ferry Lane on 4 August, as was Hutchinson-Foster's DNA, the court heard.
The shoebox was found in the minicab and had both Duggan's and the defendant's fingerprints on it, as well as those of Desire Cox, Hutchinson-Foster's girlfriend at the time. The shoebox was found in the minicab and had both Duggan's and the defendant's fingerprints on it, as well as those of Desire Cox, Hutchinson-Foster's girlfriend at the time. The gun was in a black sock with the toe end ripped to expose the barrel, and the heel open to expose the cocking lever at the back, Mr Brown said.
The gun was in a black sock with the toe end ripped to expose the barrel, and the heel open to expose the cocking lever, Brown said. Brown told the jury their task was to consider whether Hutchinson-Foster had supplied the weapon as the crown alleges, and not the rights or wrongs of the shooting of Duggan: "The death of Mr Duggan on 4 August last year has been regarded as the event that sparked the riots in north London, which then spread across London and then to other cities and which attracted widespread publicity in the United Kingdom and abroad.
Scientific evidence painted a clear picture that "put that gun at Ferry Lane on August 4 at the defendant's door". "Let me say immediately there is one task in this trial that is not necessary for you the jury to confront – that is to decide one way or the other the rights and wrongs of the shooting of Mr Duggan.
Brown said the minicab driver would describe seeing Duggan call someone to ask for directions, then asking to stop and meeting a man who passed him a cardboard box. The driver then took Duggan to Tottenham, and it was on the way there that the car was stopped by armed police. "That is a task properly left to an inquest and the jury at that inquest who will examine this issue and likely far wider issues than those that you will be concerned with."
The court heard that Hutchinson-Foster was arrested just before midday on 24 October. The trial continues.
The case continues.