Chris Kaba: Firearms officer charged with murder to be named in March

An anonymity order preventing the naming of a Metropolitan Police firearms officer charged with murdering Chris Kaba will be lifted on 1 March, a judge has ruled.

Mr Kaba, 24, died from a single gunshot in a police operation in Streatham, south London, on 5 September 2022.

The officer's trial is set to begin on 1 October.

At the Old Bailey, Judge Mark Lucraft said the date of the lifting of the order could be reported.

The hearing was told the anonymity order covering the officer - known only as NX121 - had been extended but would now be lifted on 1 March.

Previously, it was decided the officer's name could be made public, along with his date of birth, from 30 January.

The decision was made after media organisations including the BBC challenged the officer's legal application to protect his identity on the basis that confidence in the criminal justice system required cases to be held, wherever possible, in public.

Following the initial decision to name the defendant, the Met's Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist called the move "hugely concerning" for officers despite taking "seriously the open justice principle".

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