NO ONE is to be prosecuted after an ex-mercenary was shot dead by police, the Evening Press can reveal today.

Police confirmed that the investigation into the death of Kirk Davies, of Osgodby, near Selby, had now been completed and that no criminal proceedings would be brought.

Mr Davies, 30, was carrying an air rifle camouflaged with webbing when he was fatally wounded in a confrontation with armed officers near a psychiatric hospital in Wakefield last September.

A West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said that following an investigation by the Greater Manchester Police Force, a file was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether any criminal proceedings should be brought.

She said the CPS had decided that no proceedings were warranted, and an inquest would now be held next April.

The spokeswoman said: "We note the decision, but our sympathies obviously remain with the family."

A CPS spokesman, in York, said: "We looked at the circumstances and reasons why officers had to use force against Mr Davies and are satisfied they acted lawfully.

"Every death is tragic, but we don't have any evidence of a criminal act."

The incident was referred voluntarily by West Yorkshire Police to the Police Complaints Authority.

A PCA spokeswoman said: "We have got the investigation report and once the inquest is out of the way, we will decide whether any disciplinary action should be taken."

An inquest which opened last October heard that Mr Davies died from a single bullet wound to the abdomen, and that his air rifle had been camouflaged in such a way that it gave the impression of a high-velocity weapon.

Mr Davies' former partner, Kathryn Wadsworth, of Main Road, Burn, today declined to comment on the investigation's conclusions - as did his mother, Brenda Tait, at her home, in Crosshills Lane, Selby.

Miss Wadsworth lived with Mr Davies in St Leonard's Avenue, Osgodby, before moving to Burn. They have a three-year-old son, Joshua.

A former soldier with the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, Mr Davies claimed he had been a sniper with Croatian special forces during the Balkans War and had killed 46 Serbs.

The claims were later said by Balkans veterans in Britain to be "complete fantasy".

Updated: 11:00 Thursday, November 22, 2001