Widow's fight for justice

The widow of an unarmed man shot dead by police spoke today of her fight for justice.

Harry Stanley, 46, was shot in the head and hand by two police officers in Hackney as he returned home from the pub. The officers had thought a plastic bag he was carrying contained a sawn-off shotgun. The bag contained a table leg.

Today, a second inquest into his death in September 1999 opens at St Pancras Coroner's Court. The family won a High Court battle to quash the open verdict recorded by the first inquest.

Mr Stanley's widow Irene, who was married to him for 26 years, said the new development had given her hope. "Over the last five years I have lost faith in the justice system. I stormed out of the last inquest in disgust because it was full of errors," she said.

"Our family want the officers who shot Harry to be punished. To this day they haven't even been suspended and have remained in their jobs on full pay.

"My life and the lives of my three children have been torn apart. Harry was an ordinary, decent man who was recovering from colon cancer when he was killed. I wasn't prepared for him to die this way. I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye. Sometimes I come home and expect to see him in his favourite chair by the window."

Before stopping at the Alexandra pub for a lemonade, Scottish-born Mr Stanley had picked up a table leg that was being fixed by his carpenter brother Peter. While in the pub somebody who thought Mr Stanley was Irish and was carrying a gun inside the plastic bag called police and told them an Irish terrorist was on the loose. Mr Stanley left the pub, and yards from his front door was shot twice by two police marksmen, Inspector Neil Sharman and Pc Kevin Fagan. The officers say they verbally challenged him, and when he did not respond they challenged him again.

Mr Stanley did not respond, the officers say, and they opened fire. Pc Fagan shot him in the hand, and another bullet fired by Inspector Sharman hit him in the head, killing him instantly.

Mrs Stanley, 51, said: "I heard two shots and ran outside. I saw the police officers and the body of a man covered by a sheet. I remember thinking how awful it was that was someone's husband or son lying there. I never thought it could be Harry."

Despite Mr Stanley carrying his British passport and birth certificate in his jacket pocket, his widow said it took police 24 hours to tell her of her husband's death. She also claimed a post-mortem was carried out without her consent.

Mrs Stanley believes one of the crucial points during the new inquest will centre on Mr Stanley's head wound. She believes forensic evidence will show he was hit at the base of the skull, indicating that he was shot as he turned to face the officers.

She also disputes officers' claims that they fired at Mr Stanley because he turned, levelling what they thought was a shotgun at them. "Harry had 18 stitches in his stomach and was so weak he could not even bend down and tie his own shoelaces on the day he was killed. There is no way he would have had the strength or mobility to lift the table leg at them," she said.

She said Coroner Dr Stephen Chan made errors at the first inquest, including revealing details of a previous conviction for armed robbery not relevant to the case. Dr Chan refusedto accept evidence from an independent-ballistics expert, or to allow a verdict of unlawful killing to go before the jury.

The new inquest is expected to last two weeks and the jury will visit the site of Mr Stanley's death. His widow hopes a verdict of unlawful killing will be returned, opening the way for disciplinary or even criminal proceedings against the two officers.

"I was strong before but Harry's death has made me stronger," she said. "I can't move on until justice has been served. Then, I will be able to take Harry's ashes out of the cupboard and scatter them in Scotland. We were a normal family. I was an ordinary housewife and mother before Harry was shot. If this could happen to us it could happen to anyone."

Scotland Yard said it would not comment before today's inquest.