Black rights charity that claimed gangster Chris Kaba was sufferer of ‘racist state violence’ might face regulator probe

A black rights charity that claimed gangster Chris Kaba was a victim of ‘racist state violence’ is being examined by a regulator and has expressed ‘regret’.

The Runnymede Trust criticised the legal system after police officer Sergeant Martyn Blake was found not guilty of murder on Monday for killing Mr Kaba.

The 24-year-old was shot through the windscreen of an Audi Q8 as he tried to ram his way past police cars in Streatham, South London, on September 5, 2022.

Protests were held following the verdict, with the trust saying that the ‘legal system doesn’t deliver real justice for families bereaved by racist state violence’.

But when reporting restrictions were lifted on Tuesday, it emerged Mr Kaba was a ‘core member’ of one of London’s most dangerous criminal gangs and was allegedly directly linked to two shootings in the six days before he was shot dead by police.

The trust has since deleted its comments, and Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick has demanded that it is investigated by the Charity Commission.

The trust had written a thread on X following the verdict, saying: ‘The legal system doesn’t deliver real justice for families bereaved by racist state violence.

‘Since 1990, there have been 1,904 deaths in or following police custody or contact. In that time, only one officer has been found guilty for manslaughter, and none for murder.’

It added that ‘our thoughts and solidarity are with Chris’s loved ones and wider community’ and ended the thread with the hashtag ‘#JusticeForChrisKaba’.

The statistic on 1,904 deaths was collated by campaign group Inquest, which also found 211 of the total were of people from black, Asian and other ethnic minority communities.

The figure was also mentioned in the House of Commons by Labour MP Kim Johnson on Wednesday, who said: ‘I would like to send my condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of Chris Kaba.

‘Particularly this week while the media are using racist gang tropes to justify the killing of Chris Kaba. 1,900 people have died in police custody since 1990. 

‘And I would say that the police do have protections – you know, we know that our black communities are over policed and under-supported.’ 

Following the trust’s comments, Mr Jenrick said he wrote to the Charity Commission ‘requesting they investigate the Runnymede Trust and remove their charitable status’.

He added: ‘They are clearly a dangerous organisation pouring poison into our society.’

The watchdog confirmed it was ‘assessing concerns’ about ‘recent social media posts’ by the trust, reported the Daily Telegraph.

The charity has now admitted the post was ‘not as carefully expressed’ as it should have been and the trial ‘followed the traditional conventions of legal accountability’.

But it said it would still fight to ‘highlight the institutional nature of institutional racism within police forces’.

The trust said: ‘We have deleted our posts in relation to the acquittal of Sergeant Martyn Blake for the murder of Chris Kaba.

‘We accept that the wording and statistics used in our original posts on X were not as carefully expressed as they should have been, and regret the furore that this caused.’

It added: ‘The statistics used should have been qualified by referencing the source, which itself states that people of colour ‘die disproportionately as a result of use of force or restraint by the police’ and that 8 per cent of those who died in custody were racialised as black, despite representing only 3 per cent of the population’.’ 

The trust, which provided a link to the figures on Inquest’s website, added: ‘Our posts were making a more nuanced and complex point which could not be clearly expressed with the limitations of the X format, and so we should have refrained from making it.

‘We accept that there was a prosecution and a trial where a jury reached a verdict and that these followed the traditional conventions of legal accountability.’

But the charity added that ‘independent accounts clearly highlight the deep-seated nature of institutional racism within police forces’ and the legal system ‘is not free from racial bias’.

The Charity Commission has previously conducted a review into the trust in 2021, after it criticised the findings of a government report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities.

The watchdog found that the trust’s intervention did not breach guidance but warned that the trustees would have to ‘ensure that the charity demonstrates party political neutrality and actively promotes its independence’.

Yesterday, a former security minister expressed ‘real doubts about the fitness for purpose’ of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) following the Kaba case.

Conservative MP Sir John Hayes suggested in the Commons that the organisations have ‘lost the will’ to defend the law-abiding majority from a ‘criminal, wicked minority’.

The IOPC defended its decision to refer the shooting of Mr Kaba to the CPS, saying it followed ‘careful consideration of a significant amount of evidence’ gathered during their independent investigation.

The CPS said the decision to prosecute was made after an ‘in-depth consideration of all the available evidence’, adding its responsibility was to put cases before a jury that meet its test for prosecution.

The IOPC is now reviewing whether Sergeant Blake should still face disciplinary proceedings.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper made a Commons statement on Wednesday in which she revealed a string of reforms, including keeping the identity of firearms officers secret if they are prosecuted unless they are convicted.