This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

A man has been convicted of supplying a gun to Mark Duggan, whose shooting by police triggered the 2011 riots across England.

Kevin Hutchinson-Foster was found guilty of "selling or transferring a prohibited firearm" to Duggan between 28 July and 5 August 2011.

During the trial at the Old Bailey in London, the prosecution alleged that Duggan collected the BBM Bruni Model 92 handgun 15 minutes before he was challenged by police and shot dead on 4 August 2011.

The case, which ended on Thursday, was a retrial after a jury in October failed to reach a verdict on which 10 of them agreed.

The trial saw new details emerge of the police account of what happened when officers confronted Duggan in a shooting that gained national importance.

The marksman who shot Duggan said he had "absolutely no doubt" the 29-year-old was holding a gun and preparing to fire.

The officer, known only as V53, said his account of the shooting was compiled three days later, when he and his colleagues spent more than eight hours sitting in a room together writing their statements. He said they were aware of the rules about officers conferring and had discussed the incident among themselves before writing their statements.

Duggan travelled in a minicab on 4 August 2011 to pick up the weapon, which had been modified to take 9mm bullets, from Hutchinson-Foster in Leyton, east London, but was being followed by undercover officers.

As the minicab reached Ferry Lane, Tottenham, north London, officers decided to carry out a "hard stop" – that is, force the vehicle to a halt.

The crown alleges Duggan and Hutchinson-Foster exchanged phone calls in the hour before the weapon was collected. During a four-minute stop in Leyton, Duggan was seen being handed a shoebox, the crown told the jury.

Edward Brown QC, prosecuting, said Hutchinson-Foster admitted using the same gun in an attack on a barber six days earlier.

He pistol-whipped Peter Osadebay with the gun at the Lagoon salon in Dalston, east London, on 29 July 2011. Traces of Osadebay's blood were found on the firearm when it was retrieved from Ferry Lane on 4 August, as was Hutchinson-Foster's DNA, the court heard.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating whether the Metropolitan police investigated the attack on Osadebay thoroughly enough and whether they missed a chance to get the weapon off the street.

The shoebox was found in the minicab and had both Duggan's and Hutchinson-Foster's fingerprints on it, as well as those of Desire Cox, the latter's girlfriend at the time. The gun was in a black sock with the toe end ripped to expose the barrel, and the heel open to expose the cocking lever at the back.

During the trial the officer who shot Duggan gave a dramatic account.

Speaking from behind a screen, V53 said that as the minicab carrying Duggan reached Ferry Lane, the officer said the order was heard over the radio "strike, strike, strike", meaning police in unmarked cars were to force the vehicle to stop. The marksman said Duggan came out of the minicab at speed.

V53 said armed officers shouted "armed police" and "stand still" at Duggan. He did not comply, the jury was told.

Speaking in the first trial, V53 said: "As I shouted 'Armed police', Mark Duggan has turned to face me." He said Duggan was holding the gun at the level of his stomach. "The only way I can describe it … is as an 'oh fuck' moment. He has got a gun and he is going to use it on me.

"Mark Duggan was holding a handgun in his right hand. He was holding the pistol grip or the handle of the gun. I could make out the shape and outline of the gun. I could make out the trigger guard."

The officer said the gun was covered by a sock and he could make out the gun barrel.

He said Duggan was moving the barrel away from his body, into the "aim position". Armed with an MP5 submachine gun, the officer said he shot Duggan in the chest to stop him, not to kill him: "I had an honest-held belief that Mark Duggan was going to shoot me or one of my colleagues."

After the first shot Duggan made a "flinching movement" but still had the gun in his right hand and V53 fired again, striking the right bicep.

Duggan fell to the floor. Another officer shouted: "I'm hit, I'm hit," after a ricochet from his colleague struck him. The police-issue bullet struck his radio.

Before the jury, V53 stressed his certainty of the key aspect of his account, saying he was 100% sure Duggan was holding a gun when challenged by police.

The defence said expert evidence raised doubts about the police account.

Prof Jonathan Clasper, an expert in bioengineering and a former army colonel from Imperial College London, said an involuntary movement by Duggan, occurring after he was shot, would not explain why the gun was found 10-14ft (3-4 metres) away from where he fell.

Another expert witness, Dr Simon Poole, said the two bullet wounds Duggan sustained raised questions about the position he was in when shot, and may not be consistent with the police account that he was facing officers.

In the retrial, the crown alleged that during the first hearing Hutchinson-Foster had tried to influence the evidence of his former girlfriend even though he was in prison.

Prosecuting, Brown said: "'Investigations since have revealed that Desire Cox was telephoned by this defendant during that earlier trial.

"Not just at some point during the trial, but in fact the very night before she was due to give evidence.

"He had managed to get use of a telephone in prison and it was from prison that he made a call to her, following which she telephoned him for some eight-and-a-half minutes.

"This contact plainly had in mind the desire to influence the witness."

Hutchinson-Foster, 30, of no fixed abode, had denied the charge.

An inquest into Duggan's death, which was supposed to start this week, is expected to begin in September.

During the first trial, Duggan's family were unhappy that the crown had put their loved one on trial without the opportunity to defend his reputation, and not Hutchinson-Foster.

The crown's case featured extensive detail of the police account of what happened when they challenged Duggan after stopping the taxi he was travelling in.

The Duggan family tried to get a ban on reporting of the first trial, saying they feared it might influence a jury at a subsequent inquest into his death, but failed.

At the first trial Brown told the jury it was not their task to decide the "rights and wrongs" of Duggan's shooting, which would be determined by the inquest.

After the verdict, the jury was shown CCTV of the incident at the barber's shop on 29 July 2011, where Hutchinson-Foster, who was out on licence, pistol-whipped Osadebay.

Hutchinson-Foster had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Brown said: "When police officers arrived they found Mr Osadebay injured, slipping in and out of consciousness, and in fact at one point [he] lost consciousness.

"The crown's case has always been that the defendant, if he did obtain it [the gun] between the two visits to the hair salon, kept hold of it until 4 August."

The court heard that Hutchinson-Foster is in prison serving a 54-month sentence for possession of cocaine and heroin with intent to supply. That sentence is due to finish in December.

He had been released from prison after a previous sentence in April 2011.

The case was adjourned until 11am on 26 February, when Hutchinson-Foster will be sentenced.

• This article was amended on 1 February 2013. The original said the charge Kevin Hutchinson-Foster was found guilty of related to an offence "between 28 July and 5 August last year"; it was not last year but in 2011.