Pursuit PC: I did nothing wrong

A TRAFFIC officer who pursued a car which crashed and killed three people has said he did not think he was causing increased risks by taking part in the chase.

PC Daniel Byrne was acting without authority when he began chasing a Vauxhall Vectra when it failed to stop after going through a red light on November 16, 2008.

An inquest heard yesterday that the officer, with 18 months’ experience as an advanced driver at the time, had tried to pull the car over on Oldham Way but it accelerated harshly triggering the chase.

The officer pursued the car as it overtook a line of four cars at speeds of over 90mph on Middleton Road, before crashing shortly after the Broadway junction.

Although he hadn’t been given authority to pass the initial stage of the chase, PC Byrne told the inquest at Oldham magistrates court that he would have stopped had he been told to by a supervisor.

Mr Paul Sheridan, representing the father of 23-year-old Christopher Morrison killed in the smash, said that the officer had not mentioned significant pieces of information on initial contact with the police control room.

He questioned the officer’s amount of training and knowledge of the police pursuit code and asked whether he had put apprehending the driver above safety.

But PC Byrne said he had given more distance between his high-powered patrol car and the Vauxhall Vectra for safety reasons, even losing direct sight of the car as it crashed.

He suspected that it could have been stolen in a burglary at the time.

He said: “I am absolutely gutted and I would never have imagined it would end in this way. I don’t think I did anything to contribute to it or could have done anything different.”

Those first at the scene found two women, Cassie Fox (19) and the only survivor Claire Matthews (20), suspended by their seatbelts in the back of the overturned car.

One of the males looked as if he had been thrown around the vehicle according to a paramedic, while a nurse living near the scene was woken and ran out to help.

Paul Bunting, (30), was found to have £780 in £20 notes on him at the time.

Proceeding.