TWO of three investigations into the fatal shooting of Bolton man Anthony Grainger have concluded with the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) finding that the conduct of a Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officer involved did not breach professional standards.

Mr Grainger, 36, who was unarmed, was fatally wounded in Culcheth, Cheshire, by a Greater Manchester Police (GMP) firearms officer during a police operation in March 2012.

He was shot in the chest whilst sitting in a stolen Audi with two other occupants. The armed officer fired a single shot from a Heckler & Koch MP5 semi-automatic carbine with the bullet going through the windscreen and hitting Mr Grainger.

The other two occupants, along with a third person, were later tried and cleared of plotting a robbery.

Following the conclusion of the Public Inquiry in June 2019, GMP referred several matters to the IOPC that arose from the Inquiry Report. These referrals led the IOPC to commence three new independent investigations in March 2020.

The first investigation looked at the conduct of a serving GMP officer and their management of two firearms officers’ training records.

A spokesperson for the IOPC said: "Our investigation found evidence that the serving officer failed to inform GMP’s chief firearm instructor that the two firearms officers – later involved in the armed operation in which Anthony Grainger was fatally shot - had previously failed a Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officer training course.

"However, the IOPC determined that this did not amount to a case to answer for breaching police professional standards on the part of the officer. We also established that the course failure did not mean that the firearm officers should not have been part of the armed operation – neither of the officers fatally shot Anthony Grainger."

A second investigation into former Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney, former Superintendent Mark Granby and a former Chief Inspector regarding their command and control of the policing operation has now been discontinued.

"This is because it has become clear that some of the material which may be relevant to the decisions to be made at the conclusion of any investigation, and to provide adequate disclosure to the officers, could not be disclosed," added the spokesperson. "In these circumstances, our only option is to discontinue this independent investigation."

The third investigations concerning GMP’s acquisition of a CS dispersal canister which was not approved by the Home Office and was used during the policing operation in which Mr Grainger died continues.

A government spokesman said "lessons have been learned" to improve armed police operations in the UK following Mr Grainger's death - including the requirement that body cameras must now be worn by all specialist firearms officers.