AN investigation into the police command of an operation which led to the fatal shooting of an unarmed man has been discontinued.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct launched three investigations after a public inquiry into the death of 36-year-old Anthony Grainger, who was shot and killed in a car park in Culcheth by a Greater Manchester Police firearms officer in March 2012.

Warrington Guardian:

Anthony Grainger

Today, Wednesday, the IOPC confirmed that one investigation had been discontinued while another found that an officer did not have a case to answer.

Former assistant chief constable Terry Sweeney, former superintendent Mark Granby and a former chief inspector, all now retired from the force, were being investigated for gross misconduct regarding their command and control of the operation leading up to Mr Grainger's death.

Confirming that this probe had closed, a spokesman for the watchdog said: "This is because it has become clear that some of the material which may be relevant to the decisions to be made at the conclusion of any investigation, and to provide adequate disclosure to the officers, could not be disclosed."

Another investigation found evidence that a serving officer had failed to inform the force's chief firearm instructor that two of the officers involved in the operation during which Mr Grainger was shot had failed a counter terrorist specialist firearms officer training course.

The spokesman added: "However, the IOPC determined that this did not amount to a case to answer for breaching police professional standards on the part of the officer.

"We also established that the course failure did not mean that the firearm officers should not have been part of the armed operation – neither of the officers fatally shot Anthony Grainger."

Warrington Guardian:

A third investigation looking at GMP’s acquisition of a CS dispersal canister, not approved by the Home Office, which was used during the operation is ongoing.

Dad-of-two Mr Grainger, from Bolton, was behind the wheel of a stolen Audi in the car park off Jackson Avenue when an officer known only as Q9 fatally deployed his Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine gun.

The public inquiry into his death found ‘serious deficiencies’ in the planning and conduct of the police operation.

Retired assistant chief constable Steven Heywood faced a gross misconduct hearing after an IOPC investigation found he may have committed a criminal offence while giving evidence to the public inquiry in 2017.

But the allegations were dismissed by a panel last June when GMP offered no evidence and said the hearing would be ‘unfair’ because it would not have access to redacted material.

Mr Grainger and one of his passengers, David Totton, had been under investigation for some weeks over their suspected involvement in a string of robberies on business premises at the time of the incident.

During 15 weeks of evidence, Q9 told Liverpool Crown Court that he believed that he ‘had reached down as if to grab a firearm’.

But no such weapons were subsequently found in the stationary vehicle.