Chris Kaba shooting: Police officer accused of murder in Streatham is named as Martyn Blake

A Metropolitan Police firearms officer accused of murder over the fatal shooting of Chris Kaba can now be named.

Martyn Blake, 40, shot the 24-year-old once in the head through the windscreen of a car in Streatham, south London, in September 2022.

The officer was initially identified only as NX121, but Recorder of London Mark Lucraft KC ruled that naming him, as is normal practice in criminal cases involving adult defendants, posed no real or immediate risk to his life or that of his family. His home address or any image or description of him cannot be published.

Members of Mr Kaba’s family were in court at the Old Bailey on Friday as the officer was publicly named for the first time. Appearing in the dock, Blake spoke to confirm his name and date of birth, and entered a not guilty plea to the charge of murder. He is due to face trial on October 2.

On the day of the shooting, Mr Kaba was driving an Audi that did not belong to him, and turned into Kirstall Gardens where he collided with a marked police car, before he was shot.