I could have stopped siege, says wife of barrister killed by police

The wife of a barrister shot dead by police during an armed siege has told an inquest that she may have been able to defuse the situation. Elizabeth Saunders said police told her to turn off her mobile phone so they could "control communication" with her husband, Mark, who was killed by marksmen after firing a shot from a kitchen window at their home in Chelsea, west London. The inquest heard Mark Saunders was struggling with an alcohol problem and had been drinking heavily on the day of the incident, 6 May 2008. He sent three texts to Alex Booth, the best man at his wedding. After a first blank message, the second read: "This is the end my only friend, the end. X." A second text said: "Call me now." In a statement, Booth said he and Saunders would often quote music and films and the message was a quote from a song by the Doors, which was used in the film Apocalypse Now. The inquest heard Saunders struggled with drink in the years before the shooting, attending Alcoholics Anonymous and asking for help from his GP. Saunders, a family law specialist at the QEB chambers in London, had also recently taken cocaine and had been prescribed antidepressants. His wife said she suspected he had been drinking heavily on the day of his death when he failed to answer his mobile phone as she called from work. Giving evidence at Westminster coroner's court, Elizabeth Saunders, also a barrister at QEB chambers, said her husband was a "very sensitive and caring man" with "huge energy and love for life". She said he had been teetotal since March that year as he battled to control drinking which had led to several "blips" when he disappeared late at night. "What Mark wanted to do was control the drinking, to be able to be a social drinker. He was successful in that for most of the time. However, it is right to say he was working on this. There were occasions, probably every three months or so, when it went wrong," she said. Mark Saunders, a former Territorial Army soldier, died when he was hit in the head and chest by at least five bullets fired by seven police officers at 9.32pm. His final actions and the fatal shots were filmed by a police helicopter hovering above the siege in Markham Square. The inquest heard that police were called by several members of the public who heard Saunders fire a shotgun from his flat into neighbouring Bywater Street at about 4.40pm. Metropolitan police marksmen were sent to the scene, taking up positions in the street outside as they learned he was armed with two shotguns. After the last shots were fired, police fired CS gas into the property and stormed inside to find Saunders with fatal injuries. All of the officers have said they pulled the trigger in self defence or to protect others and the Crown Prosecution Service has said none of them will be prosecuted. Elizabeth Saunders revealed that her husband told their firm's senior clerk he had been "firing his gun and that the police were coming and he was in trouble" in a phone call shortly before 5pm. She got in a taxi and went home to find police had cordoned off the streets around their home. She spoke to an officer and was taken to a temporary operations base in a bank. Saunders said she answered questions about the weapons held by her husband, ammunition and his problem with alcohol as she "apologised for the fact he had caused this trouble". She added that she felt "surplus to requirements" after being told to turn off her mobile phone so police could control communication with her husband. Although she heard a "lot of commotion", including shots and helicopters, Saunders said she did not know her husband was dead until police told her at 10.30pm. She found a blank text message from him when she switched her phone back on and told the inquest it was painful to know she did not call him back. "That would have been the only time in our relationship that he sent me a text message and he did not get an immediate call from me saying, 'Darling, I am here.' "That is very difficult for me, but there it is. I did not know he had called." The inquest heard that her husband repeatedly asked police negotiators if he could speak to her. Asked what would have happened if she went to the door of their home, Saunders said she did not fear for her safety and suggested she could have defused the siege. She said: "The truth of our relationship was Mark and I loved each other. I know that Mark would never, ever have hurt me. "I think he would have just said, 'Darling, I am sorry.' And I would have said, 'Sweetheart, it is OK. Do not worry, we will sort this out.'" The inquest heard Mark Saunders was cautioned for being drunk and disorderly in 2005 and declared this on his 2006 application for a shotgun licence. Twelve police firearms officers will give evidence anonymously on Thursday and next Monday. The coroner Dr Paul Knapman ruled earlier this month that their lives may be endangered and undercover work compromised if they are named.