Duggan Inquest: Family's Hope For 'The Truth'

Mark Duggan's family have spoken of their relief that an inquest into his death will go ahead in January.

They believe the eight-week public hearing will allow the truth to come out about the controversial shooting.

Armed police shot the 29-year-old dead in Tottenham in 2011, sparking rioting and looting in north London that quickly spread.

At a hearing in Barnet, coroner Andrew Walker decided the inquest into Mr Duggan's death will go ahead on January 28 as planned.

Among the family members attending, his aunt Carole Duggan said: "We are relieved with that because we have been in limbo for so long.

"In January the public will get what we get - the truth."

Mr Duggan's mother Pamela, who was also in court, has previously challenged the accounts of what happened that day.

In August this year she told Sky News she believed her son was "assassinated".

Outside the coroner's court, Mr Duggan's brother Shaun Hall said: "This is the first time we have left here with a bit of hope that finally we can get the truth come out, everyone will hear the truth.

"The coroner was not prepared to lie down, he does want to see this in front of a jury as we do. All we are looking for is the truth."

In court, the family's barrister Michael Mansfield said they felt a "deep sense of injustice" over widely publicised accounts of Mr Duggan's death which emerged as part of a separate criminal trial.

He argued there should have been a reporting ban on the recent trial of Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, 30, who was accused of supplying Mr Duggan with a gun 15 minutes before he died.

A jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court failed to reach a verdict in the case earlier this month.