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Police failures 'a factor' in Cherry Groce's death

INVESTIGATION: Police failures contributed to the death of Dorothy Groce whose shooting by an officer triggered the 1985 Brixton riots, an inquest found yesterday.

Ms Groce, known as Cherry, was paralysed after being shot by armed police who were searching for her son in a planned raid at her home in south London.

A jury at at Southwark Coroner’s Court found that police failed to communicate properly during the hunt for Michael Groce and to adequately check who was living at the address before the raid.

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