Man shot dead by police was killed lawfully, inquest finds

Yassar Yaqub was killed by side of M62 near Huddersfield in 2017

Yassar Yaqub (inset) was shot by police by Audi at side of M62 near Huddersfield (background) (PA)

Police acted lawfully in shooting dead Yassar Yaqub on a motorway slip road in West Yorkshire in January 2017, an inquest found.

The jury at Leeds Crown Court said the officer who fired the fatal shots, identified only as V39, “honestly believed” his life was in danger and used “reasonable force”.

Relatives of Yaqub, a 28-year-old father of two, told ITV they did not accept the verdict.

West Yorkshire Police chief constable John Robins paid condolences to Mr Yaqub’s family for their relative’s death, adding that he believed the inquest had explained the circumstances of the shooting,

“I hope that people will now see that the tragic loss of life, unfortunate as it was, was necessary to keep the public safe in what was a rapidly unfolding and dangerous situation,” he said.

The inquest heard Mr Yaqub was the front seat passenger in one of two cars travelling in convoy on the M62 when four unmarked police vehicles surrounded them at junction 24 by Huddersfield on 2 January 2017.

Police forensics officers at the scene of the shooting examine the silver Audi which Yaqib rode in (Getty)

The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Guy Kearl KC, told jurors that police had been tracking Mr Yaqub since October 2016 over alleged threats he and another man had been making.

On the day of the shooting, Mr Kearl said, Mr Yaqub and his “friends or associates” travelled from Akbar’s Cafe in Bradford to Huddersfield before they were stopped by police.

Mr Yaqub was the passenger in an Audi A4 being driven by Mohsin Amin. Behind them was a VW Scirocco containing Rexhino Arapaj and David Butlin.

Bulletholes in the windscreen of the car carrying Yaqib at Ainley Top (Getty)

Jurors heard that as the Audi and VW left the motorway at the junction, known as Ainley Top, the four police cars “boxed them in” and came to a stop.

Officer V39 told the inquest that after the stop, Mr Yaqub ignored a command to “show me your hands” and instead “crouched down” before raising a handgun over the car’s dashboard.

The armed officer said he then leaned out of his car window and fired three shots, two of them hitting Yaqub in the chest from 1.5m away and causing “catastrophic blood loss”.

Safia Bano, mother of Yaqub, is comforted at Masjid Bilal Huddersfield ahead of her son’s funeral (PA)

V39 said: “I discharged my firearm fearing for my life as well as for my colleagues who I knew would be approaching the vehicle. I had no alternative because I knew I would have been shot.”

A loaded pistol was found in the footwell under the seat Yaqub had been sitting in, along with a silencer and more ammunition in the glovebox, the jury heard.

In a pen portrait at the inquest, Mr Yaqub’s partner Zoe Summers, mother to his two children, said: “I always felt lucky to have Yassar in my life, especially as we got older.”

The couple’s younger child was six months old at the time of the shooting.

Mourners pray at Yaqub’s burial service in Hey Lane cemetery, Huddersfield (Getty)

Their elder daughter Jasmine, who was 11 when Mr Yaqub was killed, said: “I miss my dad more than anything. His presence made me so happy, I wanted to be around him forever but now all I have are memories and pictures, which I will hold on to forever.

“My dad would always encourage me to focus on my dreams but since he passed away it’s very hard to, especially in school.”

Mr Yaqub’s father Mohammed Yaqub told the hearing his son was “well respected in the community and never out of employment”.

He fought back tears as he said: “He was a natural father, he loved [his children] with his whole heart and taught them to be kind to others.”