The police marksman cleared of murder in Azelle Rodney case

Police firearms officer Anthony Long denied murdering Azelle Rodney

A jury at the Old Bailey has found the former police firearms officer who shot Azelle Rodney not guilty of murder.

It took only 2.1 seconds for Anthony Long to fire the eight shots that were to dog him for the next ten years.

When he set off on a surveillance operation on 30 April 2005, he said he was "very conscious" of the danger involved, but little did he know his actions would lead to a public inquiry, a criminal investigation and ultimately a murder trial.

His surveillance team was following a silver VW Golf that had left Harlesden and was heading towards Edgware.

Driving the car was Wesley Lovell, next to him was passenger Frank Graham and in the back was 24-year-old Azelle Rodney.

The firearms officers believed were armed and on their way to carry out a robbery on a gang of Columbian drug dealers.

Azelle Rodney was shot six times in 2005

Mr Long was in the front seat of a car that pulled up alongside the VW Golf. He was one of the most respected officers in Scotland Yard's elite CO19 unit and won seven commendations during a tumultuous 33-year career.

In court, the 58-year-old described how he saw Mr Rodney turn around.

"I saw him look to his left, I saw him look to his right, and then he ducked down," Mr Long said.

Jurors were shown a video filmed from the police car behind, in which an unidentified man can be heard saying "Sweet as... sweet as... sweet as" as gunshots rang out.

In court, the officer said he feared if he had "hung back" his colleagues would have been in danger.

Three guns were found in the car - a deactivated Colt .45 calibre pistol, a Baikal pistol and a smaller gun, described as looking like a key fob.

The court heard Anthony Long had fired eight short-range shots in 2.1 seconds

Azelle Rodney was shot in Hale Lane in Mill Hill

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) began investigating the shooting and in January 2006 a file of evidence was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

However, prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence to mount a criminal prosecution.

A year later, a coroner had to indefinitely adjourn an inquest into Mr Rodney's death because neither he nor a jury were allowed to look at secret material relating to how the arrest operation came about because of rules relating to criminal intelligence.

Three guns were found and the other occupants of the vehicle were later jailed for firearms possession

It was announced in 2010 an inquiry would be allowed to look at all the evidence - but some of it would not be made public.

Chairman Sir Christopher Holland, a retired High Court judge, was tasked with determining how, when, where and in what circumstances Mr Rodney had died.

During the inquiry, it was revealed Mr Long had previously shot dead two men during a police incident in 1987 as he feared they were about to shoot a security driver during a heist in Plumstead, south-east London.

Inquests into the men's deaths later found they had been lawfully killed and Mr Long received a commendation from the Met Police Commissioner for his conduct.

It has also emerged that in 1985, during a siege, Mr Long opened fire twice and injured a kidnapper to rescue a four-year-old girl.

In the 1990s, he received a commander's commendation for his conduct in an armed stand-off with a gunman in a minicab office

However, the Azelle Rodney inquiry found there was "no lawful justification" for Mr Long to open fire in April 2005.

Susan Alexander has previously said it seemed to her that her son was "executed"

Sir Christopher went as far to say that Mr Long "could not rationally have believed" Mr Rodney had picked up a sub-machine gun.

Lawyers for Mr Long said the inquiry's findings were "irrational" and they went to the High Court to seek permission for a judicial review over the inquiry's conclusions, but the Queen's Bench Division ruled there was "no value in granting permission".

Azelle Rodney's girlfriend gave birth to their daughter after he was killed

The IPCC referred the matter back to the CPS and following an investigation Mr Long was charged with murder in July 2014, which he denied.

Throughout the trial, the prosecution maintained Mr Long had fired "extremely quickly", opening fire 0.06 seconds after the police car stopped alongside the vehicle containing Mr Rodney.

"I wasn't trying to kill him," Mr Long told the court.

Ten years after the shooting, a jury has brought some closure to the case in a court of law by rejecting the prosecution's claims and clearing Mr Long of murder.