Children of Cherry Groce, mother shot by police, will receive payout from Met

Botched raid: Cherry Groce was shot by police in front of her 11-year-old son
Hannah Al-Othman1 June 2016

Five children whose mother was shot and paralysed by police in 1985 are in line for a compensation payout from the Metropolitan Police.

A High Court judge has declared that the police still have a duty of care to the children 31 years on from the botched armed raid on a home in Brixton.

Cherry Groce was shot and paralysed in September 1985 when police raided her home, sparking several nights of riots.

Police looking for one of her sons, who did not live at the house and was not there at the time.

His brother, Lee Lawrenece, who was just eleven at the time, and three of his sisters were in the house.

Lee witnessed police kick down the bedroom door and open fire at his mother.

The Metropolitan Police attempted to have the case dismissed on the grounds the claims fell outside the time limits.

However, Channel 4 News has revealred that the courts have ordered police to compensate the family.

Lawyers for the Metropolitan Police said in court that the claim ran into six figures, more than £100,000, however a final figure has yet to be agreed.

In an interview with Channel 4 News to be broadcast tonight, Lee Lawrence told Simon Israel: "The only choice we had was do we let it go, or do we stand up for what is true and what is right. And they deserve to be accountable for what had happened to us.

“What we went through was real and we were children in the house at the time that witnessed a traumatic experience which then had a profound effect on our lives."

Their mother received half a million pounds in compensation in 1993 in an out of court settlement.

Following an inquest into Groce’s death in 2014, the Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe apologised to the family admitting that the police had caused “irreparable damage.”

In a statement tonight the Metropolitan Police said: "The Commissioner apologised unreservedly following the inquest. Having accepted responsibility for the Met's failings, we sought to agree a settlement with family members prior to court proceedings being brought but unfortunately this was not possible.

"Following the court hearing on May 24, a consent order was drawn up in which a number of concessions were made on both sides and all parties will now seek to agree a settlement of the revised claim."

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