Stephen Waldorf Shooting

Stephen Waldorf was a 26-year-old film editor who was shot and severely injured by Metropolitan Police officers in London, England, on 14 January 1983, when he was misidentified as escaped prisoner David Martin.

Background

British police officers do not routinely carry firearms. In the Metropolitan Police in 1983, selected officers, including detectives working in plain clothes, were trained to use firearms. The weapons were kept at certain police stations and could be withdrawn on the authorisation of an officer of inspector rank.

The police officers who shot Waldorf were hunting David Martin, an escaped criminal who was considered to be extremely dangerous. Martin had repeatedly used violence to resist arrest and had previously escaped custody, or attempted to escape, on multiple occasions. He served almost all of a nine-year prison sentence, starting in for a series of frauds and burglaries. His sentence was originally eight years but he received an extra year for his role in a breakout. He was released in 1981 and resumed his criminal career. He committed a series of burglaries, including one in July 1982 in which he stole 24 revolvers and over 975 rounds of ammunition from a gunsmith's shop. Police officers caught Martin days later as he robbed a recording studio but he shot his way out, seriously injuring one of the officers. Police put Martin's girlfriend under surveillance and he eventually turned up at her flat dressed as a woman. As the police, some of them armed, attempted to apprehend him, he ran away. The chase ended in Oxford Street, where Martin produced a gun and one officer shot him in the neck. Martin was taken to hospital, where he recovered, and then into police custody. He appeared at Marlborough Street Magistrates Court on 24 December, charged with attempted murder and other offences. He escaped the court cells, prompting a large manhunt.Squires & Kennison, p. 72.

Shooting

The police again put Martin's girlfriend under surveillance, hoping she would lead them to him. On the evening of 14 January 1983, armed officers followed a yellow Mini, in which she was a back-seat passenger, along Pembroke Road in the Earl's Court area of West London. In the front passenger seat was a man resembling Martin. When the Mini came to a halt in traffic, Detective Constable Finch—who would be able to recognise Martin, having been involved in his previous arrest—was sent forward to confirm the front-seat passenger's identity. Finch incorrectly identified the passenger as Martin and believed that Martin had recognised him. The passenger reached onto the back seat, which Finch misinterpreted as Martin reaching for a gun. Without warning, Finch fired all six rounds in his revolver, first at the vehicle's rear wheel and then at the passenger. While Finch was shooting, a second officer, hearing the shots and assuming his colleague was under attack, also began shooting through the rear window. The passenger, who was subsequently identified as Waldorf, was hit several times. After running out of ammunition, Finch verbally abused Waldorf and pistol whipped him until he lost consciousness. The investigation found that the officers had fired 14 shots.

Waldorf was hit five times. He sustained wounds to the head, liver, and abdomen. He was handcuffed and dragged to the side of the road. Martin's girlfriend was dragged from the car having sustained minor injuries then taken to hospital. The driver fled the scene. Within an hour, a senior officer at Scotland Yard issued a public apology and promised an immediate investigation by the Metropolitan Police's Complaints Investigation Bureau. He described the incident as "a tragic case of mistaken identity". Waldorf was in hospital for six weeks. When he regained consciousness, a senior Met officer visited him to apologise.

Aftermath

David Martin was rearrested shortly after the shooting. Sue Stephens had continued to be kept under police surveillance and attended a restaurant in Heath Street, Hampstead, north-West London, where she met up with Martin, who had dyed his distinctive blond hair dark. He was challenged by police and ran into Hampstead tube station, ran down the stairs of London's deepest tube station, south along the northbound track where eventually he was arrested at Belsize Park station without incident. He had a shotgun hidden inside his coat, and told the driver of a northbound Northern line train that he was a signal engineer. He was found guilty at Old Bailey of the attempted murder of PC Nicholas Carr and was sentenced to life in prison. He hanged himself in prison in 1984.

The incident attracted considerable scrutiny from journalists and the public, concerned at the lack of restraint shown by the officers, the danger their actions posed to the public, and the potential breach of police policies on the use of firearms. The matter was raised in parliament. The Home Secretary, William Whitelaw, promised that the report from the internal investigation would be reviewed by the Police Complaints Board and passed to the Director of Public Prosecutions to consider whether criminal charges should be brought against the officers. Whitelaw further promised that he would take steps to ensure that no such incident could happen again. Three detectives involved in the shooting were suspended from duty during the investigation.

Five days after the shooting, on 19 January, Jardine and Finch were charged with attempted murder. They went on trial in October 1983 but were acquitted of all charges after the judge, Mr Justice Croom-Johnson, directed the jury. Waldorf eventually made a full recovery and received £120,000 in compensation in an out-of-court settlement early in 1984.

Impact

In response to the decision to prosecute the officers who shot Waldorf, multiple Met officers who had previously been authorised to carry firearms, relinquished their authorisation. The Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, suggested that armed police officers should be given a degree of legal immunity for actions taken in the course of their duties.

As a result of the shooting, the selection criteria for officers authorised to use firearms were tightened and their training improved. Nonetheless, poor training and practice contributed to two further incidents in 1985 (one fatal) and further reforms were introduced.

'' Open Fire'', a TV drama about David Martin and the shooting of Stephen Waldorf, was made by London Weekend Television and shown on the ITV network on 12 November 1994.

The shooting is referenced by Ranking Roger in his toast over a dub version of The Clash's 'Red Angel Dragnet' (a song inspired by a 1981 vigilante murder in New York). Roger's version was recorded in 1983 but not officially released until 2022. His opening lines are, "Mi seh dem shoot Stephen Waldorf by mistake. It was David Martin whose life dem try to take."

References

Bibliography

*
*
*
*
*

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waldorf, Stephen
1983 in London
Metropolitan Police operations
Non-fatal shootings