Mark Duggan was 'no angel' but 'should not have been shot'

Mark Duggan "may not have been an angel" but he should not have been shot dead by police, his mother has said.

Pamela Duggan sobbed as her statement was read at an inquest into her son's death.

Mr Duggan, 29, was shot by police in Tottenham, north London. His death sparked riots in the capital, which later spread across England.

Ms Duggan said his death in 2011 was the "final straw" for his father Bruno, who died from cancer last year.

'Well balanced'

She said her son was "shy" and "beautiful" but his behaviour worsened at secondary school.

He moved away to live with an aunt in Manchester but returned to Tottenham when he was 17 a "well balanced" man, the hearing was told.

She said: "As a mother you think you're going to go before your child, you never think your child will go before you.

"No mother deserves to bury her child.

"Mark may not have been an angel but he should not have died the way he did."

Talking about Mark's father, she said: "When Mark died, Bruno stopped talking and would not say anything to anybody except, 'they killed my son, they killed my boy'.

"I believe it completely finished Bruno and he didn't have the will or the strength to fight the cancer.

"He just gave up."

Ms Duggan said she "went into total shock" when she heard the news of her son's death and was put on anti-depressants and sleeping tablets by her GP.

'Confrontational and violent'

"They have helped a little although I still find myself waiting for Mark to walk through the door," she said.

In the statement she said she hoped the inquest would find out why, if he had done anything wrong, he was killed and not arrested.

The hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in Westminster was told Mr Duggan shot someone in the leg at a party and was involved in supplying firearms.

Det Ch Insp Mick Foote told the inquest that police intelligence in June 2011 suggested Mr Duggan was "confrontational and violent" and that he was a senior member of Tottenham gang TMD.

During questioning, Mr Foote said the gang moved guns "from address to address", adding: "These people have ready access to firearms."

Three guns

Giving evidence, Strategic Firearms Commander Fiona Mallon said Mr Duggan's death was "tragic".

"However, the operation had to be authorised to keep the public safe," she told the hearing.

The operation was assessed to be high-risk for officers but medium risk to Mr Duggan, she added.

A day before the fatal shooting, officers were told in a briefing that Mr Duggan had three guns and he was trying to obtain a fourth, the inquest jury heard.

Ms Mallon said: "I think it was a tragic outcome. I think it was sad that a man lost his life. I think that it was never the intention of the operation.

"However the operation had to be authorised to keep the public safe."

Ms Mallon, who has been a police officer for 20 years, was at a police base in south London as the operation unfolded.

She told jurors: "I was shocked, I was taken aback, but you're professional."

She was also asked about her notes where she said "apparently MD came at officers firing".

The officer said she wrote that after a call from Mr Foote and added: "I wrote it as I heard it."

Court order

Meanwhile, a court order trying to compel the BBC to reveal the source of video footage of the aftermath of Mr Duggan's shooting has been revoked, the coroner said.

The BBC had refused to reveal the identity of its source and had not sent the coroner any accompanying audio to the footage, saying it had been obtained under the promise of confidentiality.

However the coroner said his team found "other ways" to get the required information without the BBC having to reveal its source.

He said: "Nothing that they have said has led my team to get to the source of the material."

The BBC will now provide the audio to the hearing. The footage is expected to be played to jurors later in the inquest.