Use of force by firearms officer in self-defence

R (Officer W80) v Director General of The Independent Office for Police Conduct [2019] EWHC 2215 (Admin)

The High Court has held that in reaching a decision as to whether misconduct proceedings should be brought against a police officer for the use of unreasonable force, the test for self-defence was that which applies in the criminal law, under which the officer was only required to have had an honest belief that his life was in danger. It was not the civil law test which requires that belief to have been objectively reasonable.