Sabina Rizvi: No police collusion when woman shot dead, inquest told

Sabina Rizvi was shot dead while driving away from Bexleyheath police station in 2003

The investigating officer of a shooting outside a London police station saw no evidence of collusion between police and two gunmen, an inquest heard.

Sabina Rizvi, 25, was killed as she drove away from Bexleyheath police station on 20 March 2003.

In 2004, Paul Asbury, then 22, was jailed for life for her murder and the attempted murder of Mark Williams, her boyfriend, who was also in the car.

The inquest is looking at whether Bexleyheath officers were implicated.

At the Old Bailey on Thursday, Cathryn McGahey KC, counsel to the inquest, asked Lee Catling, the former detective chief inspector who led the investigation, if he had seen any evidence of police involvement.

Mr Catling replied: "No."

Ms McGahey KC asked him if mobile phones belonging to the officers showed anything suspicious.

Mr Catling said: "No."

The witness told the court he had seen no evidence that police officers had told Asbury that Mr Williams had been at the police station.

The inquest is being heard at the Old Bailey in London, almost 21 years after Ms Rizvi's death

In March 2003, Ms Rizvi bought an Audi TT with £15,000 from her mother and went to the police to check it was not stolen.

She and Mr Williams went to Peckham police station on 13 March that year and were told the vehicle was not listed as stolen.

Later the same day, Asbury phoned Bexleyheath police station and said his Audi had been carjacked, the inquest was told.

On 16 March, he called then Det Sgt Robert Florio, who was in charge of the carjacking investigation, and said the girlfriend of someone called "Bucky" - Mr Williams' nickname - had his car.

Bullet-proof vest

Det Sgt Florio asked Ms Rizvi to bring the Audi's documents to Bexleyheath police station on 19 March, the court heard.

She told police she had paid Asbury for the Audi and agreed to a vehicle search. She then called her boyfriend, Mr Williams, and he drove the car to the police station, arriving at about 22.25 GMT.

The inquest heard Mr Williams was arrested on arrival because he matched the description Asbury had given of one of the car thieves.

He was wearing a bullet-proof vest when he was arrested and told police this was because he "moved in certain circles" in south London.

Officers removed it and realised that it was a Metropolitan Police vest, the court was told.

In an interview in the small hours of 20 March, Mr Williams denied having anything to do with the carjacking. He said he was wearing the vest because a friend was wanted for murder and he was "afraid of reprisals from associates of the murder victim".

Minutes after leaving the police station, at 02:20 GMT, the shooting occurred.

The inquest continues.

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