Gail Kinchin

Pregnant teen shot dead in police operation

Elaboración propia a partir de diversas fuentes
publicado: 4WardEver Reino Unido - Diciembre 2011
Todas las actualizaciones de noticias sobre este caso, se incluirán al pie de este artículo

11de junio 1980 fue testigo de una tragedia a la policía cuando West Midlands oficiales disparó accidentalmente a una joven embarazada mientras estaba retenida como rehén. Gail Kinchin habían sido tomados como rehenes por David Keith Pagett, el abuso, padre violento y el control de su futuro hijo.

Gail first met Pagett when she answered an advertisement for a baby-sitter for the two children he had with his wife. When the couple fell out, besotted Gail moved in. And the 16-year-old soon fell pregnant.

Gail and Pagett also subsequently split up amid suggestions that Pagett was abusive, violent and controlling. What no one could have predicted though, was his explosive reaction.

Pagett took 16-year-old Gail to a flat in Deelands Road, Rubery. For two hours Pagett was holed up in the flat, ignoring appeals to give himself up.

The siege was every police officer’s worst nightmare. The gunman had spent two hours holed up in his flat with his pregnant teenage girlfriend hostage.

Hours earlier he had shot and wounded her stepfather and kidnapped her mother. Pot-shots had been fired at police officers from his 12-bore shotgun, although none were hurt, and tensions were running high.

The young girl was terrified her captor would kill her. He was getting desperate and his nerves were fraying. In an attempt to escape his bolthole, he crept out of the flat holding the young hostage in front of him as a shield and waving his shotgun wildly at police.

The blast missed the officers, deflecting off the banister, but instinctively they fired back. Tragically, they hit the hostage three times. She died of her wounds four weeks later.

Initially it was claimed that Gail had been shot by Pagett, but tests later revealed that she had been hit three times by the two police officers as they instinctively fired nine shots at Pagett. One of the bullets had gone through the uterus and her unborn baby boy could not be saved. She lived for four weeks after the shooting.

Pagett was sentenced to 12 years after being convicted of manslaughter, attempted murder, two counts of kidnapping and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life. He was freed from prison after eight years.

Five years later, five-year-old John Shorthouse died after being accidentally shot when armed officers stormed into his home looking for his father.

The only other recorded police shooting of a female was in 2007 when Ann Sanderson, 37, was killed by officers investigating reports of a woman with a gun in Sevenoaks.

Wikipedia Background summary:

In the United Kingdom, the majority of police officers do not carry firearms, except in special circumstances. This originates from the formation of the Metropolitan Police Service in the 19th century, when police were not armed, partly to counter public fears and objections concerning armed enforcers as this had been previously seen due to the British Army maintaining order when needed. The arming of police in the United Kingdom is a perennial topic of debate.

Most officers are instead issued with other items for personal defence, such as Speedcuffs, Extendable “ASP” Baton, and incapacitant sprays such as PAVA or CS spray. While not a firearm, CS spray is subject to some of the same rules and regulations as a projectile firing firearm under Section 5 (b) of the Firearms Act 1968.

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