IT was the spark that ignited devastating riots across London and in cities across the UK, leaving businesses and homes burning and five people dead.

But a decade on the death of Mark Duggan, shot by police on the streets of Tottenham on August 4, 2011, is still dogged by questions – despite a 2013 ruling of lawful killing.

The 29-year-old was shot in the arm and chest during a sting operation by officers from Operation Trident, a task force set up to tackle gang crime in the capital.

The marksman who shot him, known as V53, told the inquest Duggan was holding a gun – but a weapon was later found, wrapped in a sock, 14 feet away from the site of the shooting and over a five foot fence.

Police said they shouted several warnings at Duggan before shooting – a claim disputed by the driver of the taxi he was travelling in.

And postmortem findings seemed to contradict the officer’s account that the lethal bullet, to the chest, was the first of the two that hit Duggan.

After the shooting, police didn't inform the family of Duggan’s death for two days – despite his sister and fiance asking for information at the police station.

Anger over the shooting and the family’s treatment spurred on rioters who looted shops and attacked police cars, houses and businesses over four days, from August 6, causing £200m worth of damage.

Three men – Haroon Jahan, 21, and brothers Shahzad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31 – were killed when they were mown down by a car in Birmingham.

Trevor Ellis, 26, was shot dead in Croydon and 68-year-old Richard Manninghton Bowes died after he was attacked by rioters in Ealing.

Here, with the help of pathologist Professor Derrick Pounder, who gave evidence at the 2013 inquest, we look at the questions that remain ten years on.

Was Mark Duggan a criminal?

Although he was described as a drug dealer by the police, in the aftermath of his death, his family have always maintained he was "not a gang member and he had no criminal record".

He did have two minor convictions, for cannabis possession and handling stolen goods, but the Met claimed he was a member of North Star, a subset of notorious Tottenham Man Dem (TMD) gang which the inquest was told contained "48 of Europe's most violent criminals".

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Foote told the inquest: "Intelligence over that period and historically was a clear indication Mark Duggan was involved in gun crime…in the supply of class-A drugs and possession of ammunition."

At the time of his death, Duggan and his long-term partner Semone Wilson had three children aged 10, seven and 18 months.

He had two other children with different women and another was born after his death.

Why was Mark Duggan targeted by police?

Before the shooting, Operation Trident received intelligence that Duggan was about to receive a firearm from drug dealer Kevin Hutchinson-Foster.

The gun – a BBM Bruni Olympic starter pistol which had been converted to fire lethal rounds – was collected by Duggan in East London and he headed back to Tottenham in a taxi.

As the car entered Ferry Road it was surrounded by three police cars and Duggan was ordered to get out.

What happened in the next five seconds, before Duggan was shot twice, is still the subject of conflicting accounts.

Was there a gun in the taxi?

The inquest heard that a shoebox containing the gun was handed to Duggan by Hutchinson-Foster, on the evening of August 4, before he got into the taxi.

Hutchinson-Foster was jailed for 11 years, in 2013, after being found guilty of supplying the gun.

“The circumstantial evidence surrounding the collection of the weapon and the fact that the person who supplied the weapon to him was convicted of it, suggests Duggan had the gun in the taxi,” says Professor Pounder.

The pistol was later recovered from a public garden, 14ft from where Duggan died.

It was inside a sock – a common gangland practice to avoid leaving fingerprints. A shoebox with Duggan’s fingerprints on it was found nearby.

Was there a gun in his hand when he was shot?

Testifying at the 2013 inquest, officer V53 claimed Duggan was brandishing a handgun when he was shot.

"It's like a freeze-frame moment. The only thing I was focusing on is the gun.” he said.

Although the gun was in a sock, he said he could make out the gun's barrel, handle and trigger guard and that Duggan was holding it in his right arm which was across his stomach.

“He's raised the weapon, moved it a couple of inches away from his body," he said.

But Professor Pounder believes the officer could not have seen any gun.

“The officer who shot Duggan stated unequivocally that he saw a gun,” he tells The Sun.

“He described it as a gun within a sock. But that would have meant Duggan threw the gun after he was shot.

“But having received the gunshot wounds in his right arm, he was not in a position to throw the weapon to where it was found, and particularly to throw it unobserved by any of the officers who, on their own evidence, were watching his hands.

“The officer would have been aware of the gun being found, and that it was in a sock, so that may have coloured his recollection.”

Who threw the gun?

This crucial question is at the heart of the controversy with conflicting stories from different witnesses.

A police officer who was briefed at the scene after the shooting wrote in a report that "officers had apparently thrown a firearm found in his possession over a fence so that it was out of reach and it would no longer pose a threat to them".

But none of the officers present confirmed this.

Video footage showed an officer disappearing behind the minicab for 11 seconds, and one witness, known as Miss J, claimed she saw an officer retrieve a gun from the taxi.

"I saw a gun, I am not a mad woman," she told the inquest. Police denied the claim.

Lawyers for the family also alleged that an officer removed a handgun from the minicab after Duggan was shot and planted it in the grass, which was vehemently denied at the inquest and blasted as “offensive.”

The jury concluded that Duggan had thrown the gun from the taxi, before trying to run away.

“I think there was a window of opportunity to throw the gun immediately as he opened the sliding door of the taxi,” says Professor Pounder.

“It would have been possible to throw it over the fence from the doorway.”

Was Duggan reaching for a phone?

It has been suggested that Duggan reached inside his jacket for a mobile phone, leading cops to assume he was reaching for a gun.

“There was a mobile phone discovered in one of his pockets, but which pocket was unclear,” says Professor Pounder.

“The police description and the physical evidence from the wounds suggest he had his right forearm across his body at about waist level.

"This could have meant that he was holding the outside of his jacket while his left hand was in the pocket, getting hold of the phone.

“It's feasible the police could have thought he was reaching for a gun, but what it is not feasible, in my view, is that they saw one.”

Was Duggan killed by the first or second shot?

This question is significant because the evidence of officer V53 was disputed by Professor Pounder’s postmortem findings.

V53 said he fired the first shot – which passed through Duggan’s chest – to stop him shooting.

"I'm aiming for the central body mass because I'm looking to stop," he said.

He added that Duggan's alleged gun was now pointing directly at him, so he fired a second time, hitting the right bicep.

“Duggan was bent over and turned to the left when he was shot in the chest" says Professor Pounder.

“The only explanation for that is that he was shot in the arm first because the bullet went through the biceps in his right arm then hit the side of his chest producing a nasty, but superficial injury. It would have been extremely painful and would have winded him.

“That explains why he was bent over when he received the lethal shot.”

Did police mistakes fan the flames?

The family were left in confusion following the shooting, because they were not told the dead man was Mark until two days later.

“A mother’s worst nightmare is the police coming to your door to tell you that your child is dead,” said mum Pamela Duggan, at the inquest.

“Because this did not happen, I believed the worst had not happened.”

Frustrated, on August 6, the family marched to the police station to demand information and were joined by 300 supporters, who waited for several hours before a senior officer would speak to them.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) also leaked information suggesting there had been an "exchange of fire” before Duggan died, which was untrue.

Despite the Duggan family appealing for calm, police cars were set on fire and rioting broke out across London and the UK, causing widespread destruction and five more tragic deaths.

Could Duggan’s death have been avoided?

At the 2013 inquest, the jury’s verdict was lawful killing – although they agreed Duggan did not have the gun in his hand when he was shot.

The family's bid to overturn the verdict was dismissed by the Court of Appeal and, in 2019, they settled a claim against the Met, who did not admit liability.

In the wake of the shooting,a detective was sacked for failing to investigate an attack six days earlier by Hutchinson-Foster, who beat a man with the same gun in east London.

“The legal argument has been that the police should have taken the gun off the street before it was handed to Duggan,” says Professor Pounder.

“If they’d gone in search it before it was handed over, Duggan would never have had the gun.”

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