A mother whose son was shot by police in Edgware has dealt a blow to the Government’s counter-terrorism proposals.

Susan Alexander has been waiting for three years for a public inquest into the death of her son, Azelle Rodney, who was shot seven times at point-blank range in Hale Lane in April 2005.

Last Tuesday the House of Lords voted to approve an amendment to the Counter-Terrorism Bill which was specifically drawn up to help her get a public inquest.

The House of Commons will vote on the amendment this week.

The coroner said an inquest for the 24-year-old, who was unarmed and had no criminal record when he was shot, was legally impossible at the time because of sensitive police evidence.

The amendment, drafted by Ms Alexander’s lawyer Daniel Machover, will give High Court judges the power to view sensitive evidence in inquests and decide whether it should be released to a jury and interested parties.

Ms Alexander, 48, from Hounslow, said she was forced to put forward the amendment after the Government broke its promise in November 2007 to find an “urgent” way of changing the law to make possible an inquest for her son.

She said: “After all this time, we have finally achieved this small but significant victory and hopefully we will soon be able to set a date for the inquest.

“The whole political process has made me feel very small and insecure at times, but it’s something I’ve had to go through to get justice.”

She added: “It has been a very big fight to get a glimmer of a change, very soul-destroying. You try to get on with your life, but you can’t. My health and my family life has suffered very badly.

“But this is the only thing that has kept me focused. I hope, once it is tabled in law it will help other people too, as well as myself.”

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Miller, who brought the amendment, said the change in the law would have “huge ramifications for one family, and for society as a whole”.

But Mr Machover admitted he and Ms Alexander still had a fight on their hands after the law was passed by a margin of only three votes: 139 to 136.

“Ministers show every sign of fighting this very reasonable amendment, so we are anxious to show them this is the way forward,” he said.

“We can’t be too confident. There is every chance the Commons will reverse it. But we will just have to keep our fingers crossed. We have been fighting for this for two years.”

Mr Rodney was killed 11 weeks before Jean Charles de Menezes, who was shot by police when they mistook him for one of the failed July 2005 London suicide bombers.