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Met ignored my advice, says siege neighbour
Benedict Moore-Bridger, Evening Standard28 Jul 2008
The neighbour of the barrister who was shot dead by police marksmen during a stand-off at his Chelsea home has slammed the Met for "mishandling" the siege.
Mark Saunders, 32, was shot five times in the brain, heart and liver after he spent the afternoonof May 6 firing shots from the window of his £2million flat.
But businesswoman Jane Winkworth, who lives in the basement flat of the Markham Square building, said police ignored "vital advice" which could have prevented Mr Saunders's death.
Oxford-educated Mr Saunders and his wife - 40-year-old barrister Elizabeth Clarke - worked at QEB chambers in Temple, the leading chambers for family lawyers, and were known as a "golden couple".
Mrs Winkworth said: "Mark was not a terrorist, a suicide bomber, or the leader of a drugs gang. He was a distressed young man who loved his wife and was having a crisis.
"I begged them to let Elizabeth come to my flat. She could have soothed him down. I offered to shut down the electricity so Mark wouldn't have had any light to reload. And I drew up plans to the flat, telling them how to get in.
"I gave them detailed drawings of the flat to help them get in, either through the roof or a little window. The police officers in my flat thought they were brilliant ideas but they were vetoed by central command."
Mrs Winkworth was in her garden when she heard the first shots being fired from an upstairs window and she ran in to phone the police.
"At first the officers were very nice to Mark. They thought it was just daft behaviour and would end soon."
But at 4.40pm there was another shot, with the barrister becoming more aggressive and at 7pm a cardboard box with the words "I love my wife dearly xxx" was dropped from the window.
Mrs Winkworth said: "The police thought it was insignificant. I told them it was important. It was clear they were not dealing with a dangerous person. This was someone who needed help."
Mrs Winkworth has also criticised the "bland" police negotiator, and added the noise from an overhead helicopter drowned out communication.
The results of a Police Complaints Commission inquiry and an inquest into the barrister's death are due to be published this year.
Reader views (2)
We cannot have our police acting as extra-judicial executioners. Any decent marksman could have put a shot through the guy`s leg, and the police could have stormed the flat behind bullet-proof shields and made an arrest. There is something very wrong with police training and practice.
- Simon Barrow, London, UK, 28/07/2008 21:01
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You silly woman, if a man shoots a shotgun randomly in public he runs the risk of getting shot, turn of the lights so he cant reload? He was in the army for gods sake I think he may have managed it in the dark.
- Nick Bacon, london, 28/07/2008 13:01
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