A former police marksman accused of murdering Hounslow man Azelle Rodney was only wearing light body armour despite the operation being "close to 10 out of 10" on the danger scale, a court has heard.
Anthony Long, who denies the charge, fired eight bullets at the 24-year-old, hitting him six times, in the space of two seconds when officers stopped the car in which he was travelling in Edgware on April 30, 2005.
Summing up yesterday (Tuesday, June 30) at the end of a three-week trial at the Old Bailey, judge Justice Nigel Sweeney recounted how police intelligence had suggested Mr Rodney and two other men were armed with three machine guns and were on their way to rob a rival Colombian drugs gang in Edgware when the car was stopped and the fatal shots were fired.
Mr Sweeney recalled how one of Mr Long's fellow firearms officers, known as E5, had told jurors that when officers were briefed that afternoon in Harlesden, where the suspects' car had stopped, "the level of danger was getting close to 10 out of 10".
The judge said intelligence provided to the officers that day, according to the marksman E6, suggested the suspects were "very dangerous people who needed to be dealt with robustly".
The firearms officers were only wearing light body armour, Justice Sweeney told the court, although Mr Long, 58, was given a ballistic helmet and tried to fit a ballistic shield to the police car in which he was travelling, only to find it was "impracticable" to do so.
The court heard how officers had followed the suspects from a cocaine factory at the Guinness Trust Building in Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, to Hale Lane, Edgware, where the car - a silver VW gold hired by Mr Rodney using a false name - was stopped.
In the back of the car, where Mr Rodney was sitting, police found two pistols and a small double barrelled key fob gun, together with ammunition.
Justice Sweeney said E1, the firearms officer in charge that day, had told the court Mr Long, whose address has been given as the Police Federation headquarters in Leatherhead, Surrey, was "always professional and always demonstrated good judgement" during their working relationship.
E1 was so impressed by his colleague's conduct he had appointed him his second in command for a subsequent operation in 2006, added the judge.
Justice Sweeney told jurors they must decide whether Mr Long, who retired from the Metropolitan Police Service in 2008, genuinely believed he was acting in defence of himself and/or his police colleagues when he opened fire at Mr Rodney.
He said he would finish summing up the evidence on Wednesday (July 1) before instructing the jury to retire and consider their verdict.
