FIVE years ago an unarmed man was shot dead inside a stolen car in Culcheth by an officer from Greater Manchester Police.

Half a decade on, the family of 36-year-old convicted criminal Anthony Grainger face a further agonising wait for answers as the inquiry into his death reaches its final stages.

After sitting for the past three months, the legal teams will be summing up their final arguments this week.

It is only then that the inquiry chairman Judge Thomas Teague QC will finally start writing his report on the events that unfolded in a pre-planned police operation on March 3, 2012.

The findings are expected to be published later this year.

Mr Grainger was killed after a single bullet was fired by a police marksman – known only as Q9 – while he was sat inside a stolen red Audi A6 estate in the corner of a car park off Jackson Avenue at 6.45pm.

Mr Grainger had been under surveillance for a number of days as it was believed he was planning an armed robbery in the area.

Police had watched Mr Grainger, who had previously served time in prison, make the trip to Culcheth in the days leading up to the shooting as part of Operation Shire.

The operation had been launched six months previous to investigate a gang of Salford men suspected of committing armed robberies across the north west.

But Mr Grainger’s passenger David Totton denied that this was the case.

It was claimed the group had driven to Culcheth to collect a debt over a car.

The third passenger in the car Joseph Travers failed to turn up to the inquiry to give evidence.

The officer who fired the fatal bullet told the inquiry how he believed Mr Grainger appeared to reach for a gun and feared for the lives of his colleagues.

But there was no evidence that Mr Grainger had been armed.  

Instead Mr Grainger’s legal team say he may have suddenly lowered his hand because he’d been startled by the shooting out of a tyre.

During the inquiry, conflicting information was presented to the judge who must now decide whether Mr Grainger's death could have been avoided. 

Judgements will also be made about the decision to use a CS grenade which was thrown into the car during the police swoop.

These types of grenades had not been tested or approved by the Home Office at the time.

Mistakes made over intelligence and the news that two officers linked to the case had failed a training course will also be assessed by the judge as he makes his final deliberations.