James Ashley

Who was James Ashley?

James Ashley was a 39-year-old British man shot dead by armed police while unarmed and naked, during a raid on his Sussex flat in 1998. Ashley and several of the apartment's other residents were suspected of involvement in large-scale drug deals. Having previously served two years on a charge of manslaughter, Ashley had been involved in a pubroom stabbing several months earlier, when a friend of his attacked someone else before Ashley pulled him away. A search of the premises later turned up a small amount of cannabis.