Anthony Grainger: Public inquiry into man shot by police

Anthony Grainger was shot by police in 2012

The inquest into the death of a man who was shot dead by Greater Manchester Police is to be converted to a public inquiry, the Home Office has said.

Unarmed Anthony Grainger, 36, was killed when he was shot in the chest during a Greater Manchester Police operation in Cheshire in 2012.

The announcement came in a written ministerial statement from Home Secretary Theresa May.

Greater Manchester Police said it welcomed the inquiry.

The Home Office said Ms May had agreed to a request for a judge-led statutory inquiry from Judge Teague, who had been appointed as coroner for Mr Grainger's inquest.

"My hope is that this inquiry will be able to determine how and in what circumstances Mr Grainger came by his death and that this can bring some solace to his family," the Home Secretary said.

Anthony Grainger's partner said she was looking for justice

Judge Teague wrote to the Home Secretary and Justice Secretary explaining that the inquest should become a public inquiry under the 2005 Inquiries Act to permit all relevant evidence to be heard.

His inquiry will look at the GMP operation and make any "appropriate" recommendations. Among the factors it will study are the operation's intelligence; whether armed officers should have been deployed and if the officers involved had their judgement impaired by "extended hours of duty".

Mr Grainger's partner, Gail Hadfield-Grainger, said she was looking for "some kind of justice, some kind of answers as to why it happened and hopefully a form of preventing it from happening to anybody else."

Jonathan Bridge, solicitor for the Grainger family, said: "The family have already waited for over four years to learn the true facts surrounding Anthony's death."

Greater Manchester's Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd said the lack of progress in the case was unacceptable.

Anthony Grainger was shot dead in 2012

He added: "I have been increasingly concerned about these delays, and the corresponding lack of answers.

"It is distressing and unhelpful to the family, is unfair to the police officers involved in the operation and does not serve the public interest."

GMP's Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: "Since Anthony Grainger died in March 2012 we have always insisted that the family, public and the officers involved deserve a full understanding of the circumstances that led up to his death."

Mr Grainger was shot through the windscreen of a parked car in Culcheth, Warrington, by a firearms officer after police thought he was about to take part in an armed robbery.