A Met police officer has denied causing the deaths of ten-year-old Makayah McDermott and his 34-year-old aunt, Rosanne Cooper, following a pursuit in Penge, south London, in August 2016.
PC Edward Welch was pursuing a stolen vehicle driven by Joshua Dobby, who was 23-year-old at the time of the incident.
At times during the pursuit, Dobby sped at over three times the posted speed limit, drove through red lights and hits speeds of 50mph as he drove the wrong way down a one-way street.
Dobby finally lost control of the stolen Ford Focus he was driving and mounted the pavement before hitting a bollard and hitting the Cooper family as they walked along the street.
He was sent to prison for 12-years after being found guilty of manslaughter at the Old Bailey in 2017.
PC Welch denied causing the deaths by dangerous driving of Ms Cooper and Makayah. A 13-year-old girl was also seriously injured by Dobby’s out-of-control Focus.
Makayah was pronounced dead at the scene, having suffered 40 separate injuries. His aunt died from 54 individual injuries.
Dobby never held a driving licence and had 53 previous convictions, including one for aggravated vehicle taking.
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Tragic yes, but are we supposed to give criminals carte blanche to drive dangerously knowing the police will back off? NO WAY, JOSE!
That habitual criminal should have been given double that sentence, he will be out in 6.
This angers me!
I agree totally about the backing off and think that any offence where a life is list through a deliberate act should serve the full sentence
Dobby had 54 previous convictions. Why was he out at all? With that sort of record, he should have accumulated several life sentences inside.
Instead, a law abiding policeman doing his job, nay duty, faces charges of death by dangerous driving when he was not even driving the killer car. He knocked nobody over. He stole nothing. He was doing his level best to keep our streets safe and in this case, the fleeing criminal did all the killing.
That he is facing any charges at all is an outrage, but charges as serious as this is beyond outrageous. The CPS will not charge career criminals but will jump on a copper at the drop of a hat. The CPS is no longer fit for purpose, if indeed it ever was, and should be disbanded and a different system adopted, one whereby more people are charged, but this is just part of the story.
Sentences should be meaningful and swiftly increase in severity recidivists. I would advocate a doubling of previous sentences as a minimum starting point, set in statute, with all sentences served in full.
With such a system, Dobby would have been locked up for decades after is first dozen convictions and therefore could not have killed these innocent people. Dobby is to blame for this, not the officer. He could have stopped and chose not to. Instead, he is locked up for 12 years for manslaughter and will be out in 6. What did he get for nicking the car? Nothing. He should have been locked up for the maximum period, 14 years, for the deaths, ideally 14 years for each death plus another 10 for vehicle theft, far from his first. He should also have got a goodly chunk of jail time for driving without a licence and thus no insurance. In a just world, he should face at least 55 years behind bars for his crimes. Instead, he will get just 6 before being released and then all the do gooders will flock around him and give him stuff.
Like George Floyd, the criminal is lauded and the protector of our laws and freedoms is thrown under a bus.
Kelvin you have said it all, 100% right, the only thing I would add is previous judges and magistrates should be held to account for the pathetic passed punishments to this vile individual.