New evidence could suggest that police planted the gun Mark Duggan was allegedly carrying when shot dead by marksmen, an inquest was told today.
A witness, known as Miss J, was close to the scene of the shooting which sparked the summer riots in 2011.
Officers who fired two shots say that Duggan stepped from the minicab in which he had been travelling armed with a gun hidden in a sock.
The eight-woman, three-man jury were today visiting the site of the shooting in Ferry Lane, Tottenham in August 2011. Before they left the hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice, Ashley Underwood QC, Counsel to the inquest, told the jurors about Miss J.
“She lived nearby and she said she was close enough to see the colour of the gloves somebody was wearing when doing CPR (on Duggan),” said the QC. “I need to explore with Miss J whether her evidence suggests the police took the gun from the minicab and planted it. All of that evidence will give you the opportunity to explore that possibility.”
He told the jury they would hear later in proceedings from the police officers who discovered the gun and a cloth 10-20ft away, and over a fence, from where Duggan was shot.
The jurors were told they would be given an opportunity to examine a Toyota minicab — similar to the one Duggan had been travelling in which has since been scrapped — and sit inside when they visited the scene.
“It is a people carrier with a sliding passenger door on the nearside,” said Mr Underwood. “Some officers will tell you that the door slid open and he (Duggan) came out. You will be given the opportunity to see what views there are of the minicab and you can get in and see for yourself.”
The jury was first being taken to Vicarage Road in Leyton where Duggan was allegedly handed a handgun by Kevin Hutchinson-Foster.
Hutchinson-Foster is serving an 11-year prison sentence for charges including possessing the gun after a trial at the Old Bailey this year.
The jury will be taken on the exact route Duggan travelled in the minicab from Vicarage Road to Ferry Lane where the three police cars following him conducted a “hard stop”.
The inquest has heard that the officer who pulled the trigger, known as V53, says he acted in self-defence.
He has made a statement that he saw Duggan lift his right arm holding the sock and gun towards him.
The jury has been told that gangsters are known to carry weapons in a sock to avoid leaving DNA or fingerprints.
Duggan was in the Tottenham-based gang TMD and was suspected of being on his way to Broadwater Farm to carry out a murder when the minicab was intercepted, the inquest heard.
