Judge backs dropping danger charge

A judge has backed the decision not to prosecute Pc Gary Smith for causing death by dangerous driving.

See also: Officer in tragic smash fined

The officer, a response driver, had been due to face a trial yesterday over the allegation, which carries a maximum 14 year prison sentence.

But yesterday prosecutors accepted his decision to admit that he drove carelessly on the way to assist another officer following reports of a break-in at a school.

Judge Richard Griffith-Jones said the prosecution of the officer, pictured here receiving a bravery award last year after his team confronted a blood-spattered woman and a man wielding two knives in Wednesfield, had been independent of the police.

"It would be perfectly normal for people to think that the prosecution was looking after its own, but that would be not the true position. I want to make that clear," he said.

"There is not a breath of a suggestion that there was anything about Mr Singh's driving which caused the death."

Judge Griffith-Jones said a burglary on its own would not have warranted such a quick response, but another officer was already at the scene and could have been in trouble.

He recommended that Smith, who was based at Low Hill, Wolverhampton, at the time of the crash but has since moved to a desk job at Wednesfield, should not face any disciplinary action from West Midlands Police. Mr Tim Green, prosecuting, told the court that the decision to accept the careless driving plea had been reached "relatively recently" and with consultation with the victim's family.

He said the case had been transferred from Wolverhampton Crown Court to Warwick and had been investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission to avoid any suggestion of wrongdoing.

Mr Green said an expert, who had worked for West Midlands Police for 30 years, had come forward with a new opinion that Smith had been travelling at only around 15mph when he crossed the red light.

Mr Green said: "He was entitled to cross the red light the the pursuance of his duties." There was no longer sufficient evidence for a jury to convict him of causing death by dangerous driving.