Yahoo Movies Mother of Jermaine Baker: My son was written off by the Met Police and society
The mother of a man shot dead by the Met Police has accused officers of failing to value her son’s life.
Jermaine Baker, 28, was killed as armed police foiled an attempt to free an inmate from a prison van in December 2015.
Mr Baker was unarmed as he sat in the passenger seat of a stolen Audi, and was shot once in the neck by a firearms officer – referred to as W80.
His mother, Margaret Smith, yesterday told a public inquiry that her son had been repeatedly “written off” by society and accused police officers of failing to consider his safety when they intercepted the car.
“No one needed to die on December 11, 2015. I know this could have and should have ended differently”, she said.
“When I look at what happened that day, I see Jermaine being treated by the police officers in the same way as by a school teacher and others in his life.
“He wasn’t seen as a human being whose life was unique and valuable. The value of his life was forgotten in this police officer’s plan and in the end of his life he was written off by the premature and unreasonable judgement of W80.”
The inquiry is expected to investigate how the police operation was planned, including intelligence on access to firearms by those involved in the prison break plot.
There was no viable weapon in the car that day, though police recovered an imitation Uzi machine gun from the rear of the vehicle.
Mrs Smith said family and friends were stunned when they found out what Jermaine, a father-of-two, had become embroiled in.
“It’s hard to understand why he was there that day”, she said.
“He had never been involved in anything like this, he must have considered that he could have got caught and I don’t understand why he would have risked that.
“I think that even though he clearly had so much going for him and so much potential, he just couldn’t see this himself.”
She told the inquiry how her son was expelled from school at 14 and was “consistently being written off”, adding: “I think eventually he wrote himself off.”
She said: “I do understand that if you tell someone often enough that they are a failure, and that society doesn’t value them, then they will believe it.
“I don’t say any of this to excuse what Jermaine did, but it’s important to see the full picture of who he was and how a young man with so much good in him could end up making some very bad decisions.
“I think it’s also important to understand this could happen to anyone. Jermaine’s life was exceptional and unusual in the way it ended.
“But the story of being written off as a child could be told about so many black boys and young men.”
The inquiry was also played a video tribute to Mr Baker, in which his young daughter Alexia Demetrio-Baker read a poem called My Dad, My Hero.
“He was really kind to me when I was little, I really miss him. He was always there,” she said.
The Met Police told the inquiry the prison break plot was allowed to continue rather than intervening at an earlier stage as officers attempted to crack-down on gun crime and a bloody war between rival north London Turkish gangs.
Duncan Penny QC, for W80, said the officer “genuinely and honestly believed based upon the information which had been provided to him, and upon what he perceived Mr Baker to be doing when challenged, that there was an imminent threat to his life and to the lives of his colleagues.”
The inquiry continues.
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