Police Death Driver Guilty
A Northumbria Police officer has been found guilty of causing the death by dangerous driving of a Newcastle schoolgirl.
The jury at Newcastle Crown Court heard how PC John Dougal, 41, accelerated to 94 mph moments before his marked police vehicle struck and fatally injured Hayley Adamson, 16, as she crossed the city's Denton Road.
Dougal was attempting to catch a suspect vehicle, which had earlier been flagged by the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system in his powerful Volvo estate. He was travelling without blue lights and siren because he didn't want to alert the driver to his presence.
In a sickening twist of fate it later transpired that the driver being followed by Dougal had done absolutely nothing wrong.
It took the jury of eight women and four men just an hour and a half to reach its unanimous verdict.
Judge David Hodson said: "You will be remanded in custody and you must appreciate that the inevitable outcome of a conviction of an offence of this nature is an immediate sentence of custody."
He added: "I am sure everybody who has sat through this case will be acutely conscious of the grief there has been to the Adamson family."
Dougal will be sentenced on 1st May 2009.
The jury at Newcastle Crown Court heard how PC John Dougal, 41, accelerated to 94 mph moments before his marked police vehicle struck and fatally injured Hayley Adamson, 16, as she crossed the city's Denton Road.
Dougal was attempting to catch a suspect vehicle, which had earlier been flagged by the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system in his powerful Volvo estate. He was travelling without blue lights and siren because he didn't want to alert the driver to his presence.
In a sickening twist of fate it later transpired that the driver being followed by Dougal had done absolutely nothing wrong.
It took the jury of eight women and four men just an hour and a half to reach its unanimous verdict.
Judge David Hodson said: "You will be remanded in custody and you must appreciate that the inevitable outcome of a conviction of an offence of this nature is an immediate sentence of custody."
He added: "I am sure everybody who has sat through this case will be acutely conscious of the grief there has been to the Adamson family."
Dougal will be sentenced on 1st May 2009.
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