'I thought I was going to die,' says police officer who shot dead charity worker

Last updated at 16:48 10 March 2008

A police officer involved in shooting dead a charity worker said today he feared for his life and that of his colleague when he fired the shots.

An inquest in Hull heard that he also believed Simon Murden, who he could see was carrying a sword, was a threat to members of the public at a nearby garage when he fired nine shots from a carbine firearm.

The police officer, referred to as officer C during the hearing, had been sent to the incident, in March 2005, with another officer after reports that Mr Murden was possibly carrying a firearm after driving the wrong way down the road and crashing his vehicle.

Giving evidence from behind a screen, the firearms officer said he and his colleague, Officer D, were sent immediately to the scene on March 22, 2005.

Messages relayed to the officers on their way to the incident included that Mr Murden had possibly taken a sword from his bedroom and also a report from a passing motorist that he possibly had a cross-bow or a semi-automatic weapon with him.

They were also told he had suffered a psychotic episode after taking drugs and was a member of the "special population group" - meaning he was not likely to act in a rational manner.

The officers stopped when they saw Mr Murden on the westbound carriageway of the A63, west of Hull, near a Little Chef restaurant and a petrol station.

Officer C described him as walking fast towards them "with a purpose" and cradling his arms, although he could not see what he was carrying.

He said when Mr Murden was about 15 yards away, he drew a sword with his right hand and held it up in the air as if about to bring it down on someone in an attack.

Officer C told the inquest how he heard Officer D fire two baton rounds at Mr Murden, and saw each one strike, but that they had no effect.

He said: "I honestly believed the life of my colleague, Officer D, was in threat and if he got past Officer D, the lives of the people on the forecourt would be in danger.

"I decided I would have to use my conventional weapon."

Officer C told the inquest how he fired two shots from his carbine at Mr Murden's central body area "in quick succession" but they seemed to have no effect.

"He took another couple of steps forward and, again, I thought Officer D was going to get injured or die," he said.

He fired another two shots, which caused Mr Murden to drop to his knees but he got up again with the sword still raised and took more steps towards Officer D.

Officer C said: "Again, I feared for my colleague's life and I fired a further two shots."

He said Simon's legs crumpled beneath him but he again started to try to get up, pointing his sword straight towards him as he did so.

"The position that Simon was in is called a lunge position, where you can quickly launch yourself off the floor," he said.

"I'm thinking, he could get to me very quickly here.

"At that point, I thought I was going to die. He's 10 feet away from me, his arms were outstretched with the sword pointing straight at me."

He added: "I honestly thought I was going to die that day."

Officer C fired another three shots and, this time, he said Mr Murden did not get up. Officer D and another two officers, E and F, began to attempt resuscitation.