Investigation as police shoot man

The area has been cordoned off

A formal investigation has started after police shot and killed a 53-year-old man in north Cornwall.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was called in by Devon and Cornwall Police after a man was shot in the early hours of Tuesday.

Police officers were first called to an isolated address at Lewannick near Launceston on Monday evening to what they are calling a domestic incident.

The man was shot at 0125 BST on Tuesday.

IPCC Commissioner Ian Bynoe arrives in Cornwall on Wednesday.

Mr Bynoe, who is responsible for Devon and Cornwall, said: "One of our senior investigators is due in Launceston shortly and then we will decide how the inquiry should be carried out.

"I send my condolences to the man's family after this tragic incident."

Cordoned off

Devon and Cornwall Police negotiators were at the scene of the incident when the man, who had recently moved to the area from Crawley, West Sussex, was shot.

"Emergency treatment was administered at the scene, but the man later died in Derriford Hospital, Plymouth," said a police spokesman.

It is not yet known whether there was anybody else in the house at the time of the shooting, or how many shots were fired.

The area has been cordoned off.

In 1999 Devon and Cornwall police shot dead a former soldier on the outskirts of Falmouth, Cornwall.

Lawful killing

Anthony Kitts, 20, was shot after pointing an air rifle at unarmed and armed police.

After an eight-day inquest in 2000, a jury returned a verdict of lawful killing.

Six years earlier, force marksmen shot dead 39-year-old farmer Ian Fitzgerald-Hay in a siege at Diptford, near Totnes, south Devon.

He was shot at Crabadon Manor having fired rounds at a neighbour's farm and at a village pub, and killed a police dog.

A verdict of lawful killing was returned by an inquest jury in 1994.

The family sued for damages, and the Devon and Cornwall force paid around £7,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

Police chiefs said the settlement was on the basis that they had not been negligent, and there was no fault by the officers involved, who acted in accordance with approved force policy.