Stephen Waldorf was a 26-year-old film editor who was shot and severely injured by Metropolitan Police officers in London, England, on 14 January 1983, when he was misidentified as escaped prisoner David Martin. Background British police officers do not routinely carry firearms. In the Metropolitan Police in 1983, selected officers, including detectives working in plain clothes, were trained to use firearms. The weapons were kept at certain police stations and could be withdrawn on the authorisation of an officer of inspector rank. The police officers who shot Waldorf were hunting David Martin, an escaped criminal who was considered to be extremely dangerous. Martin had repeatedly used violence to resist arrest and had previously escaped custody, or attempted to escape, on multiple occasions. He served almost all of a nine-year prison sentence, starting in for a series of frauds and burglaries. His sentence was originally eight years but he received an extra year for his role in a breakout. He was released in 1981 and resumed his criminal career. He committed a series of burglaries, including one in July 1982 in which he stole 24 revolvers and over 975 rounds of ammunition from a gunsmith's shop. Police officers caught Martin days later as he robbed a recording studio but he shot his way out, seriously injuring one of the officers. Police put Martin's girlfriend under surveillance and he eventually turned up at her flat dressed as a woman. As the police, some of them armed, attempted to apprehend him, he ran away. The chase ended in Oxford Street, where Martin produced a gun and one officer shot him in the neck. Martin was taken to hospital, where he recovered, and then into police custody. He appeared at Marlborough Street Magistrates Court on 24 December, charged with attempted murder and other offences. He escaped the court cells, prompting a large manhunt. Shooting The police again put Martin's girlfriend under surveillance, hoping she would lead them to him. On the evening of 14 January 1983, armed officers followed a yellow Mini, in which she was a back-seat passenger, along Pembroke Road in the Earl's Court area of West London. In the front passenger seat was a man resembling Martin. When the Mini came to a halt in traffic, Detective Constable Finch—who would be able to recognise Martin, having been involved in his previous arrest—was sent forward to confirm the front-seat passenger's identity. Finch