Image Text: PLANTED GUN CLAIMS: Mark Duggan was shot dead by armed police in August 2011

SPECULATION ABOUT police planting a gun at the fatal shooting scene of Mark Duggan were back up by new witness evidence given at the inquest into the Tottenham resident’s death at the hands of armed officers.

A witness, who was 16 when Duggan was shot dead by police in north London in August 2011, told the inquest that she saw a police taking an object from the minicab Duggan had been travelling in before running in the direction of Tottenham Hale.

Speaking via videolink, she said what she saw “looked dodgy”.

Asked about what she saw in more detail, the witness added: “It looked like [the officer] had put something over the object to cover it.”

Police say they found a handgun they believe belonged to Duggan about 20ft (6m) from where he collapsed and died.

The witness is the daughter of another witness – Miss J – who had previously told the inquest jury that she saw an officer take a handgun from the taxi after Duggan had been shot.

Along with this latest testimony, speculation that police planted the handgun at the scene can only be mounting following eyewitness accounts that are independent of the Met.

Armed officers, who have given evidence anonymously, maintain that they saw Duggan holding a gun before they opened fire.

Duggan’s death sparked riots that spread across London and England that summer.

The inquest continues.