THE family of Mark Duggan lost a legal challenge yesterday to police procedures following fatal shootings by armed officers.

Mr Duggan was shot and killed by armed police in Tottenham in August 2011.

Lawyers representing the Duggan family argued that the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) was operating a policy of allowing officers to confer following such an incident and that this was inconsistent with the stance of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

The challenge was launched after Pamela Duggan lost her High Court battle to overturn an inquest verdict that controversially found that her son had been “lawfully killed” by an armed Metropolitan Police officer despite Mr Duggan having been unarmed at the time.

Lawyers argued that the IPCC had decided that key officers involved in a death should normally be separated from one another and not allowed to confer.

But three Appeal Court judges yesterday rejected the challenge and dismissed the family’s claim for a declaration that the current Acpo policy is unlawful and contrary not only to IPCC thinking but also to Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.