Force used incapacitating grenades for five years without home secretary’s approval and despite warnings, inquiry hears

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Greater Manchester Police used incapacitating CS gas grenades for five years without permission from the home secretary, a public inquiry has heard.

The force’s firearms unit used the weapon even though government scientists refused to sanction them and a national policing body described them as “dangerous”.

The revelation emerged at a public inquiry into the fatal police shooting of Anthony Grainger during a swoop on a stolen Audi in a car park in the Cheshire town of Culcheth.

The inquiry at Liverpool crown court heard that CS dispersal canisters (CSDC) were thrown into the car during the armed operation. They are designed to incapacitate suspects by spreading an irritant that temporarily restricts breathing and sight.

The inquiry heard that GMP’s firearms unit was told by the Home Office’s police scientific development branch in January 2005 that the CS grenades could not be sanctioned because they were potentially dangerous and had not been properly tested.

Yet despite the warning, the force purchased seven CSDC canisters on 9 July 2007, a further 24 on 23 August that year, then “more and more again” in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, the inquiry heard.

The force temporarily paused their use in October 2007 when other emergency service partners raised concerns about “excessive irritant” in the CS canisters following an incident when they were used.

In 2009, a member of the National Police Improvement Agency advised GMP that its use of the gas grenades was “dangerous”, the inquiry heard.

Jason Beer QC, counsel to the inquiry, told the chairman, Judge Thomas Teague QC, that GMP’s use of the CS grenades should be investigated as part of the 14-week inquiry.

He said: “This may raise issues for GMP which extend beyond the use of CSDC on 3 March, including, first, whether GMP knew that its use of the CSDC between 2007 and 2012 was without the approval of the home secretary.

“Second, why GMP introduced the use of the CSDC without the approval of the home secretary, without taking any of the steps required by the statutory code of practice to secure such approval and in breach of the statutory code of practice.

“Third, what steps GMP took after a member of the National Police Improvement Agency advised GMP in 2009 that its use of the CSDC was dangerous.”

The inquiry will on Monday hear testimony from senior police officers during two weeks of evidence being heard behind closed doors. The inquiry has heard that the operation, dubbed Operation Shire, was beset with incorrect and out-of-date intelligence and that commanding officers had “significant” competency problems.

Grainger, 36, and two associates were suspected of planning an armed robbery of a Sainsbury’s store when 16 firearms officers descended on their stolen Audi shortly after 7pm on 3 March 2012.

A police marksman known only as Q9 told the inquiry he shot Grainger through the chest because he saw him lower his right hand out of sight and believed he was reaching for a firearm. No guns were found in the car or in properties linked to Grainger.

GMP had not returned a request for comment at the time of publication.