THE mother of a man shot dead by a police marksman five years ago today has urged the Government to move on plans for an inquiry.

On March 30, Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced there would be an inquiry into the death of Azelle Rodney, who was killed in Edgware on April 30, 2005.

The 24-year-old was shot as he sat in the back of a Volkswagen outside The Railway Inn in Hale Lane.

However, his mother Susan Alexander says she is still waiting for any progress including the scope of the inquiry, who will chair it or when it will be held.

She said: “It has been a long, emotional and drawn-out five years and I have tirelessly campaigned for justice for me and my family and for other affected families, sat through hundreds of meetings and been given, at times, false promises from Government.

“But I still pursue the right to know what happened to my son. The law has been made so complex, people like me have to fight hard for their rights and it is not good enough.

“When someone dies at the hands of the state, then someone has to take the responsibility and explain what has happened. I will continue to fight on.”

Her lawyer Daniel Machover has written to the Justice Secretary pushing for the inquiry to be held as soon as possible.

He said: “The Government has been responsible for every week of delay in this case since September 2007, which is over two-and-a-half of the five years since the shooting.

“It is a disgrace that Susan does not even have a timetable for the inquiry as she enters her sixth year of mourning for her son. The Government must at least acknowledge that this delay has breached Susan's human rights as it is their fault that a 'prompt investigation' has not finished in this case.

“The public has also been badly let down, because the full lessons of how to avoid similar deaths in future have not and cannot be learned until the investigation reaches a public conclusion after hearing all the evidence."