AN armed police officer has described the moment he opened fire on a man who had earlier threatened to kill his colleagues and had taken aim at him with a crossbow.

The marksman, referred to as Officer C, told an inquest jury yesterday it was “absolutely necessary”

that he fired at Keith Richards who was killed early on May 12, 2009, in Cheapside, Shildon, County Durham.

Speaking from behind a curtain to protect his identity, the officer said: “Within milliseconds of firing I felt something whistling past the right side of my head. I have always assumed to this day that he fired a crossbow and it just missed my head.”

He added: “If I hadn’t done what I did, there was every chance I could have been dead.”

The police marksman – who said he was also concerned for his colleagues and the public – was one of three positioned behind a wall about 40 yards from the rear of Mr Richards’ home.

The father-of-two was heavily intoxicated, worried about debt and fearful that a drink-driving conviction would ruin his life, causing him to remonstrate with police from a bedroom window.

Officer C said that at first Mr Richards, 47, failed to respond to warnings from armed officers and was instead talking to unarmed police officers who had arrived earlier.

He said Mr Richards fired the smaller of his two crossbows “indiscriminately”

towards his unarmed colleagues before disappearing from view.

“If I was looking through my gun sight I would have shot him at that stage,” said Officer C, in reference to the precise moment Mr Richards raised his weapon, before firing a shot.

Mr Richards ignored calls to show himself from Officer C, who told the jury he then heard the sound of the crossbow being reloaded.

Officer C, who had been made aware his body armour had not been tested against crossbow fire, said Mr Richards came to the window, unarmed, and struck up a brief conversation with another officer.

“I thought we were getting somewhere,” said Officer C. “But he said ‘I know where you are now’ and he numbered us off.

“He pointed at us with his right hand and said ‘One, two, three’ and then disappeared back into the room and put the light out.”

Officer C said Mr Richards reappeared before pointing the crossbow directly at him in the “right-hand hold position” before he opened fire.

Officer C missed, but his colleague, known as Officer D and armed with what Durham Coroner Andrew Tweddle described as a sniper-type rifle hit, killing Mr Richards.

When questioned, Officer C said he was unsure if Mr Richards was holding the weapon like a right or left handed person but denied it was because of any particular significance.

Police took 35 minutes to get inside the house, which Sergeant Lee Morris, who was the incident commander earlier, admitted reduced the chance of Mr Richards being found alive.

The inquest, at the Work Place, Newton Aycliffe, continues today.