Lewis Skelton: Unlawful Killing conclusion challenge rejected by Divisional Court

On 29 November 2016, Lewis Skelton died when he was shot twice in the back by an authorised firearms officer known as B50. He had a long history of mental health problems and had been spotted on the streets of Hull carrying a small hand axe. The officers attending were instructed that he had not threatened anyone. In October 2021, an Inquest Jury, (directed by Assistant Coroner Oliver Longstaff) retired to consider the evidence. They returned a unanimous conclusion of unlawful killing.

The Divisional Court has today (23 January 2023) rejected a judicial review pursued by B50 and supported by the Chief Constable.

B50 unsuccessfully claimed that the Coroner had failed to apply the Galbraith Plus test effectively; that there was insufficient evidence for the Jury to consider unlawful killing and that the Coroner’s summing up was deficient.

The Divisional Court - Lord Justice Stuart-Smith and Mr Justice Fordham - rejected the claim on all grounds. They address the authorities on Galbraith Plus and find the Assistant Coroner understood and properly applied that test. They emphasise: “What is clear is that it is not open to a coroner, in a case which passes the classic Galbraith test of evidential sufficiency, to withdraw a conclusion under the guise of lack of “safety” just because they might not agree with a particular outcome, however strongly” (at [65]).

B50 had claimed he faced a collapsing timeframe as Mr Skelton approached three workmen. The Divisional Court confirmed the Jury could properly come to the conclusion B50’s asserted belief was not genuinely held:

“On one view of the evidence that was open to the Jury, Mr Skelton’s progress had slowed down considerably, he was struggling and was still not showing aggressive intent despite (or perhaps because of) being tasered four times, the workmen (who were sufficiently distant that they had not yet perceived a threat) would have had ample opportunity to get out of the way had the threat become a real and present danger, and B50’s justification based upon his being threatened on or around Caroline Place was contradicted in circumstances which could (depending on the view taken by the Jury) support a conclusion that it was a deliberate falsehood designed to bolster an untrue case. In our judgment, this evidence was such that the Jury could properly come to the conclusion that B50’s asserted belief in the imminence of the danger to the workmen was not genuinely held. That being so, we are unable to identify anything, either evidential or arising from the process of the inquest or otherwise, that suggests (far less shows) that it would not be safe for the Jury to reach such a conclusion. Adopting the compendious approach, this was a case where it would be safe for the Jury to come to conclusion that there had been an unlawful killing.” (at [88])

Rejecting the challenge to the Coroner’s summing up, the Divisional Court considered the clear written legal directions with which the Jury retired (and which were not challenged). There was nothing in the summing up which prevented the Jury from carrying out their task (see [101]).

Tim Moloney KC and Angela Patrick, instructed by Hudgell Solicitors, represented Mr Skelton’s family both in the inquest and in the subsequent judicial review.

Media coverage of the inquest and the subsequent judicial review is available online, including on the BBC and ITV.

The judgment can be read, here.

Read more coverage of the judgment, including on the BBC, ITV, in the Yorkshire Post and the Hull Daily Mail.