THE mother of a 24-year-old unarmed black man who was fatally shot by police marksmen 20 years ago has said she still has unanswered questions over his death.

Susan Alexander described the heavy toll of state violence in her long and emotional fight for answers and the devastating impact that her son Azelle Rodney’s death has had on her family on charity Inquest’s Unlawful Killing podcast.

Speaking ahead of the 20th year anniversary of his killing by a Metropolitan Police officer Anthony Long on April 30 2005, she said: “It’s been 20 long and painful years since my son Azelle was killed by the Metropolitan police and I have often felt silenced.

“This podcast was the first time I heard my voice talking in this way about Azelle — it gave me the freedom to talk.”

On the podcast, she said: “This event has been life-changing. Still, after all this time, there’s lots of questions, unanswered questions, about what really happened and why.

“It’s the worst thing that could ever happen. This event has changed my life, my family’s lives forever and the impact has been immense.

“It’s caused divisions in the family, disagreements, the family has been disjointed ever since and I come from a very large family so it’s had a huge impact on everybody.

“I had to make a decision do I fight or flight. That was I was adamant to do but it’s caused a lot of problems on the way.”

Speaking of the media coverage of his death, she added: “We’ve been criminalised as a family because of it, stereotyping him all the way throughout the process from the beginning.

“We were well known in our communities. People just wouldn’t go near him, they just didn’t want to know.

“I’ve got two other sons as well. Every milestone of the case we’ve had to endure hardship, loss of work, livelihood, I walked away from my house because it was just too much eventually.”

The not guilty verdict, which came after a 10-year fight for justice, saw Ms Alexander take a break from campaigning.

Announcing the podcast today, the Inquest charity said that she has now returned and is using art as a tonic for grief, and a tool for change.