Five policemen cleared of blame over the shooting dead of an unarmed man have been refused permission to sue their bosses for alleged failure to train them properly.

Each claimed to have suffered psychiatric damage in the aftermath of James Ashley's fatal shooting in January 1998.

Mr Ashley, 39, was shot dead during an armed raid on his Hastings home as officers hunted another man, wanted for a stabbing, who they suspected was there.

Mr Ashley had also been targeted by police for suspected drug dealing but was naked in bed with his girlfriend when officers entered.

The officers - Superintendent Chris Burton, Inspectors Kevin French and Christopher Siggs, and PCs Stephen Crocker and Robert Shoesmith - were all suspended after the incident and stayed off work for three years until allegations against them were dropped.

They claimed breaches of duties of care owed to them by the Chief Constable of Sussex.

But a panel of three appeal judges, headed by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, refused them permission to take their case further.

They wanted to appeal against a ruling in the High Court striking out their allegations of corporate failure.

Lord Phillips said in his ruling yesterday, following a hearing last month: "The appellants are seeking to make a significant extension to the ambit of the duty of care not to cause psychiatric injury."

But he said they had no real chance of success based on the law as it stands.

High Court judge Mr Justice Wilkie had given them the go-ahead to sue the police over what they claimed was the "uncaring and insensitive" way they were treated after an inquiry found they were not to blame for the death.

But their main action, in which they were seeking a reported £50,000 each in damages, has now been thrown out.

At the appeal hearing, their counsel, Robert Glancy, QC, alleged bad methods used by the force had resulted in a 1998 police drugs operation going "disastrously wrong" when officers stormed the house and shot James Ashley as he got out of bed.

The officers did not witness the shooting by a police marksman but helped organise the raid.