The family of a man shot dead by Sussex Police while naked in his own flat has been given permission to sue the force for unlawful killing.

Three Court of Appeal judges headed by the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, ruled that there should be a civil trial on the issue of whether the police marksman, PC Chris Sherwood, was guilty of assault and battery when he shot James Ashley.

The Appeal Court has also given permission for allegations of wrongful conduct in office by the chief constable of Sussex after the shooting to go to trial.

James Ashley was 39 when he was killed during a police raid on his flat in St Leonards, East Sussex, in the early hours of January 1998.

Sussex police had a warrant to search his flat in a drugs operation. When his door was forced open, Ashley got up from the bed he was sharing with his girlfriend and went towards the door. He was shot by PC Sherwood in the neck.

James’s father and son are bringing civil claims against the Chief Constable. Some of these claims arise out of the shooting itself - for assault and battery, false imprisonment and negligence.

Police must now show that PC Sherwood, who has been acquitted in a criminal trial of murder, acted in self defence or a declaration could be made of unlawful killing.

The Ashley family also claims misfeasance and negligence, arising out of the conduct of the police after the shooting.

Misfeasant conduct is conduct by a public officer intending to damage someone, or knowing that or being reckless as to whether he is acting unlawfully and that he might injure someone.

The family claims that the officers concerned, and in particular Chief Constable Paul Whitehouse who retired in 2001, deliberately released incorrect information to the Press and public, obstructed an independent investigation, failed to involve the Ashley family and fabricated evidence in circumstances in which they knew that what they were doing was unlawful.

The Chief Constable has already admitted negligence in the shooting claim. The amount of compensation for the family is to be set at the same time as the trial over assault and battery, which relates to the shooting.

Sir Anthony ordered that any trial over misfeasance should wait until after the amount of damages has been settled.

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