List of killings by law enforcement officers in the United Kingdom
This list of people killed by law enforcement officers in the United Kingdom documents cases of people who died directly or indirectly because of the actions of British law enforcement officers, regardless of the manner of death, duty status of the officers, or if they acted officially or unofficially. It includes officers working for all law enforcement agencies, existing or historical, in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, but excludes crown dependencies, colonies or other political entities subject or previously subjected to the direct control of the government of the United Kingdom. It also excludes deaths for which other government agents are responsible, such as deaths as a result of actions of the British Armed Forces.
Many of the killings were by the Royal Ulster Constabulary during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Police in Northern Ireland killed 56 people during the conflict, including at least 30 civilians and at least 20 paramilitary members. There is also evidence linking some RUC officers to attacks by Ulster loyalist paramilitaries.
Single deaths
2020s
2010s
Name | Date | Location | Police force | Death Result of Police Action | Description | Ruling |
Usman Khan | 29 November 2019 | London | City of London Police | Direct | Khan stabbed five people – two of whom later died – in the vicinity of London Bridge. He was wearing a fake explosive vest, and was shot twice by police, dying at the scene. | |
Leroy Junior Medford | 2 April 2019 | Reading, England | Thames Valley Police | Indirect | Junior was arrested on 1 April 2019. While in custody he swallowed drugs he was packing. Despite several opportunities to implement the Drugs Standard Operating Procedure, officers failed to do so. Proper care and monitoring was not provided, leading to his deteriorating health being unnoticed. He later died in hospital. | Failure to implement, the Drugs Standard Operating Procedure. |
Trevor Smith | 15 March 2019 | Birmingham, England | West Midlands Police | Direct | Shot by police who surrounded a property. Police said a non-police issued firearm was recovered from the property. | |
Sean Fitzgerald | 4 January 2019 | Coventry, England | West Midlands Police | Direct | Shot, while unarmed, during an arrest operation at a property. Witnesses reported hearing four or five gunshots. Two other men were arrested at the scene on suspicion of cultivating cannabis. | |
Richard Cottier | 9 April 2018 | Romford, London | Metropolitan Police | Direct | Cottier called police in the early hours of the morning telling them he had taken an overdose and claiming he had a gun. A member of the public also informed police of a man with a gun. Officers found Cottier at a petrol station and fired two shots. He died at the scene. | |
Nuno Cardoso | 24 November 2017 | Oxford, England | Thames Valley Police | Indirect | After being confronted by officers at his student residence at Ruskin College, Oxford, Cardoso was wrestled to ground, held face down with an officer sitting on his legs. He was then struck with a baton to the back of his knee. Cardoso collapsed in the back of a police van due to ingestion of drugs. Officers failed to follow guidance to take him to a nearby hospital, instead going to Abingdon Police station. | Uncritical narrative conclusion |
Spencer Ashworth | 27 September 2017 | Portishead, England | Avon and Somerset Constabulary | Direct | Police responded to reports of a man in a car with a handgun threatening other drivers. Witnesses said Ashworth was shot up to 10 times through the passenger window before he was pulled from the car by officers who began attempting to resuscitate him. A non-police issued firearm was recovered. | |
Rashan Charles | 22 July 2017 | Dalston, London | Metropolitan Police | Indirect | After police stopped his vehicle, Charles fled the vehicle and was pursued by police into a shop, where he placed an object into his mouth and resisted arrest. The officer, who wore a body camera, threw Charles to the ground, held him down by the neck, and tried to reach inside his mouth. A member of the public helped him restrain Charles. Charles "became ill", was given emergency treatment at the scene, and was taken by ambulance to Royal London Hospital, where he died later that morning. The object Charles tried to swallow was reportedly recovered at the scene. | Accidental Death |
Khalid Masood | 22 March 2017 | Westminster, London | Metropolitan Police | Direct | After using a vehicle to hit and kill pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, Masood ran into the grounds of the Palace of Westminster, where he fatally stabbed an unarmed police officer. An armed police officer, believed to have been the Metropolitan Police close protection officer for Michael Fallon, the Secretary of State for Defence, witnessed the stabbing, ran towards the scene and fatally shot Masood. | |
Yassar Yaqub | 2 January 2017 | Huddersfield, England | West Yorkshire Police | Direct | Yaqub was shot by police at junction 24 of the M62, after they received a tip-off that he was carrying a gun in the car in which he was a passenger. | |
Lewis Skelton | 29 November 2016 | Hull, England | Humberside Police | Direct | Shot by armed response officers while reportedly wielding an axe, and died of his wounds in hospital. | |
Josh Pitt | 9 November 2016 | Luton, England | Bedfordshire Police | Direct | Police responded to reports of a woman being attacked in a house. Shortly after arriving at the house, armed police officers shot Pitt. He was treated by officers and paramedics before being taken to hospital, where he died. Police recovered a "number of knives". | |
Dalian Atkinson | 15 August 2016 | Telford, England | West Mercia Police | Indirect | Police responded to a call that Atkinson was in a "manic state" and was threatening to kill his father. After being tasered, Atkinson went into cardiac arrest on the way to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. | |
William Smith | 2 May 2016 | Goudhurst, England | Kent Police | Direct | Police fatally shot Smith during an armed operation. Smith was on bail in connection with the death of a 73-year-old man. | Inquest ongoing |
James Wilson | 29 March 2016 | South Shields, England | Northumbria Police | Direct | Wilson was shot in the chest by officers responding to reports of a man in the street with a handgun. He was taken to hospital, but died on 1 April. | Lawful Killing |
Jermaine Baker | 11 December 2015 | Wood Green, London | Metropolitan Police | Direct | Three men were planning to free Izzet Eren, who was being taken in a prison van to Wood Green crown court over firearms offences. Armed police intercepted the men. Baker, who was in the front seat, was fatally shot as police surrounded his vehicle. He was unarmed, although there was an imitation Uzi in the rear foot-well behind the driver's seat. | Inquest ongoing |
Richard Davies | 21 October 2015 | St Neots, England | Cambridgeshire Police | Direct | Shot by police responding to a report of a domestic incident in a house. | Lawful Killing |
James Fox | 30 August 2015 | London | Metropolitan Police | Direct | Shot by police after reportedly making threats to kill. | Lawful Killing |
Sheku Bayoh | 3 May 2015 | Kirkcaldy, Scotland | Police Scotland | Unclear | Bayoh was taken into police custody whilst α-PVP was in his system. It was reported he had been brandishing a knife but this was later disproved by video footage. He sustained bruising from police batons, had his arms and legs restrained and died of asphyxiation in police custody. | Inquest ongoing |
Dean Joseph | 5 September 2014 | London | Metropolitan Police | Direct | Shot by a police marksman after holding a woman at gunpoint in an armed standoff. | Lawful Killing |
Anthony Grainger | 3 March 2012 | Culcheth, England | Greater Manchester Police | Direct | Grainger was shot by police while unarmed. In January 2014 the Crown Prosecution Service announced they would be prosecuting Chief Constable Peter Fahy under health and safety legislation over the shooting, and a full public inquiry into Grainger's death was announced in early 2016. | Greater Manchester Police found to be at fault. |
Mark Duggan | 4 August 2011 | London | Metropolitan Police | Direct | Police stated that officers were attempting to arrest Duggan on suspicion of planning an attack, and that he was in possession of a handgun. Duggan died from a gunshot wound to the chest. The circumstances of Duggan's killing resulted in public protests in Tottenham, which led to conflict with police and escalated into riots across London and other English cities. In January 2014 a jury returned the verdict of lawful killing. | Lawful killing |
Kingsley Burrell | 31 March 2011 | Birmingham, England | West Midlands Police | Indirect | Died in hospital as a result of asphyxiation after being detained under the Mental Health Act and left in a face-down position on a hospital bed. One police officer of the West Midlands Police was sacked due to gross misconduct having given a misleading account to investigators. His actions were not found to be contributory to Burrell's death. Injuries from restraint were not found to be the cause of Burrell's death. | Inconclusive |
Marc Ringland | 3 February 2011 | Belfast, Northern Ireland | Police Service of Northern Ireland | Direct | While robbing a petrol station armed with a knife, Ringland threatened an off-duty police officer, who then fired a single shot with his authorised personal protection handgun, fatally wounding him. | |
Olaseni Lewis | 3 September 2010 | London | Metropolitan Police | Indirect | After being admitted to a mental health ward, Lewis died 3 days after a period of prolonged restraint by police officers. It was identified that a litany of failures by both police and medical staff contributed to Lewis's death. The misconduct case was dismissed on 6 October 2017 as claims of wrongdoing were "unproven" and any failings were "performance matters". |
2000s
1990s
1980s
- Seamus Duffy – Catholic civilian, shot by plastic bullet.
- Keith White – Protestant civilian, shot by plastic bullet during a riot.
- Cynthia Jarrett, accidental death/heart failure
- Cherry Groce
- John Shorthouse
- John Mikkelson, misadventure
- Gerard Logue – shot while sitting in a stolen car.
- Sean McIlvenna – IRA member, shot after being involved in a roadside bomb attack.
- Sean Downes – Catholic civilian, shot by plastic bullet during protest march.
- Paul McCann – INLA member, shot during gun battle after police surrounded a house.
- Seamus Fitzsimmons – Catholic civilian, shot during attempted post office robbery.
- Anthony Dawson – Catholic civilian, killed in drive-by shooting by an off-duty police officer.
- Brigid Foster – passerby, shot after armed robbery at post office.
- John O'Hare – Catholic civilian, shot while running away after armed post office robbery.
- William Miller – UVF member, shot while traveling in stolen car.
- Frank McColgan – Catholic civilian, shot during car chase.
- Michael Tighe – Catholic civilian, shot by undercover officers at a farm.
- Ronald Brennan – Protestant civilian, shot during attempted post office robbery.
- Stephen Hamilton – UDA member, shot while traveling in stolen car.
- Peter McGuinness – Catholic civilian, died after being shot by plastic bullet.
- Nora McCabe – Catholic civilian, died after being shot by plastic bullet.
- Paul Whitters – Catholic civilian, died after being shot by plastic bullet.
- Michael McCartan – Catholic civilian, shot by undercover officer.
- Terence O'Neill – IRA member, shot while running away from a community centre.
- Gail Kinchen, accidentally shot by police while being held as a hostage on 12 June 1980; died later in hospital.
1970s
- James Kelly, killed in police custody
- Blair Peach
- William Strathearn – shot at his home by off-duty officers.
- William "Billy" Hughes – escaped prisoner, and mass murderer, shot dead by police marksman following a high speed pursuit.
- Edward Walker – UDA member, shot while traveling in stolen car.
- Sean McDermott – IRA member, shot shortly after carrying out bomb attack on a hotel.
- Kevin Gately
- Michael McVerry – IRA member, shot during attack on police/army base.
- Michael Leonard – shot while driving his car being chased by police.
- Albert Kavanagh – IRA member, shot during attempted bomb attack on factory.
- Joseph Cunningham – IRA member, shot during gun battle.
- Martin Forsythe – IRA member, shot by undercover officers during bomb attack.
1960s
- Michael Lynch – Catholic civilian, shot during the 1969 Northern Ireland riots.
- Samuel McLarnon – Catholic civilian, shot during the 1969 Northern Ireland riots.
- Hugh McCabe – British soldier on leave, shot while standing on a roof during the 1969 Northern Ireland riots.
- Patrick Rooney – 9-year-old boy shot during the 1969 Northern Ireland riots.
- John Gallagher – Catholic civilian, shot during the 1969 Northern Ireland riots.
- Samuel Devenney – Catholic civilian, died three months after being badly beaten by officers inside his home during a riot.
- James Griffiths
- Francis McCloskey – Catholic civilian, died after being hit on head with batons during a riot.
Before the 1960s
- James Crossan – IRA member shot at border customs post during the Border Campaign.
- Aloysius Hand – IRA member killed in gun battle during the Border Campaign.
- James McKeown – Catholic civilian, shot in his home along with two brothers by Ulster Special Constables.
- Mary McGowan – 13-year-old Catholic girl, shot by Ulster Special Constables firing from an armoured car during Belfast's Bloody Sunday. The inquest concluded that they had "deliberately" shot her.
- Percy Toplis
- Maud Smith. Smith was killed by PC George Cooke, who was subsequently convicted of her murder and hanged.
- Michael Wise
Multiple deaths in a single incident