Police 'justified' in killing man

Mr Murden was shot dead by police on the A63 Long road to inquest Man's 'compassionate' side

A man shot dead by police as he brandished a sword was justifiably killed, an inquest jury has ruled.

Charity worker Simon Murden, 26, from Beverley, East Yorkshire, was shot six times as he walked along the A63 near Hull in March 2005.

A firearms officer claimed Mr Murden approached police armed with a sword despite being hit with several rounds.

The inquest at Hull's Octagon heard Mr Murden was later found to have had three African swords with him.

The six-week-long inquest heard Mr Murden was shot after driving his van the wrong way down the main A63 route in East Yorkshire.

He had crashed into a car and continued on foot before being confronted by armed officers.

We are satisfied on the balance of probabilities that all of those shots were justified Inquest jury foreman

The inquest jury heard how officers shot at Mr Murden 10 times using a carbine gun and a pistol.

Baton rounds fired at Mr Murden failed to stop his progress, the inquest heard.

Hull coroner Geoffrey Saul told the inquest jury of eight men and three women to return a narrative verdict.

Having taken 16 hours to reach a majority verdict of 10-1 the jury foreman said: "The officers fired nine rounds from a carbine and one from a pistol. We are satisfied on the balance of probabilities that all of those shots were justified."

Family 'shocked'

The jury said the decision to deploy armed police officers to challenge Mr Murden was an appropriate course of action and the tactics used by the firearms officers were appropriate.

They also came to the conclusion that Mr Murden was suffering from a psychotic episode at the time of his death.

Mr Murden was found to have been carrying three African swords

Mr Murden's mother, Dorothy Murden, broke down in tears as the verdict was read out.

Reading out a statement on behalf of the Murden family after the inquest, their solicitor, Jim Wyatt, said the family were "in shock" and "devastated" by the jury's findings.

He said: "In fact, they are amazed and bewildered that so much strong evidence was obviously rejected when considering the brutality of Simon's death."

Det Supt Judi Heaton said: "Clearly we're very distressed that we had to take this action.

"I'm not sure an apology is appropriate in this situation but we offer our condolences to the family."