Police officer gives evidence in inquest into Leslie Wakefield death
A jury has been hearing evidence during the inquest of Leslie Wakefield, which is due to last up to four days at Warrington Coroner’s Court.
Members of Mr Wakefield’s family were also present when the hearing began yesterday, Tuesday.
The 80-year-old died after being hit by an unmarked and dark-coloured Cheshire Police BMW 3-series on Warrington Road in Penketh on Monday, February 3, 2020.
He was crossing the A562 near to the Red Lion pub shortly before 7.30pm on the evening in question when he was struck by the police car in the Widnes-bound carriageway.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, a short distance from his home. Warrington Road was closed for several hours in both directions between Liverpool Road and Farnworth Road.
The police car, driven by PC Matthew Foy, was not travelling to an emergency before the crash occurred, but was following a speeding driver without emergency equipment activated.
The specialist advanced driver was undertaken by a white Toyota Aygo travelling at above 40mph – in excess of the 30mph speed limit.
PC Foy then began to tail the other car and reached speeds of up to 68mph in a 30mph zone, not a pursuit, but a tactic known as pacing, but did not activate his siren or emergency lights.
Mr Wakefield was then struck by the police vehicle, which the officer did try to steer away to avoid a collision, as he walked into the road from the central reservation near to the crossing.
He suffered multiple injuries in the collision and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jacqueline Devonish, senior coroner for Cheshire who is presiding over the inquest, explained that an inquest hears evidence to allow a jury to make findings of fact and reach a conclusion on a death.
“A coroner’s court’s powers are different to a criminal court’s, with nobody on trial, and an inquest does not resolve matters of criminality or attribute blame,” she told the jury.
“It is simply a way of establishing the facts about a death, answer four statutory questions, and a jury’s role is to answer who the deceased was, when, where and how they came about their death.”
Tony Graham, son-in-law to Mr Wakefield spoke of how the deceased was born and brought up in Warrington and was a retired machine setter and semi-skilled tool maker.
He lived with his wife Mavis in Penketh, after completing his national service in 1960 in Germany, and everyone knew him as Les.
Police at the scene of the incident on Warrington Road in Penketh
“He was an ordinary guy who went about his life fairly quietly. In his younger days, he was quite social and enjoyed going out. He enjoyed a lot of holidays, even up to the year prior to his death,” Mr Graham said.
The court heard he was still fairly active, albeit slowing down a bit, but relatively for for his age, and he would walk or get public transport everywhere, crossing that stretch of road daily.
Mr Wakefield would walk to the nearby Co-op shop daily for a newspaper, being a creature of habit, and on the night in question it is believe he was heading home from a nearby pub.
Shortly after the incident, when visited by a police officer to offer condolences, his family expressed that they understood accidents happen and they how difficult policing is.
But as they learned more about the circumstances, they became less sympathetic, the court heard, raising concerns, not of his driving skill, but he decisions made by and judgement of PC Foy.
Bystanders who did not witness the collision itself spoke of hearing two speeding cars on Warrington Road, which was dry and well-lit by streetlamps, before hearing a thud.
Dashcam footage was played in court from the following police car showing the incident, with PC Foy tailing at around 60mph to 70mph at the time of the collision.
This occurred just in front of a pelican traffic light crossing, which was on green for vehicles to pass through, with footage showing the car veering away from Mr Wakefield to avoid a collision.
PC Christopher Gleave, working for Cheshire Police’s roads and crime unit based in Penketh, was in the station when heard a call over the radio from PC Foy stating he needed help as he had hit someone, who was presumed dead.
He arrived at the scene and it was ‘quite clear and evident that Mr Wakefield was deceased’.
Toxicologist examinations revealed the presence alcohol in Mr Wakefield’s blood and urine of ‘mild intoxication’ level, while a forensic pathologist said that this level was just above the legal drink-drive limit.
PC Gleave added that PC Foy looked ‘shellshocked, with an ashen face and not speaking’.
He also spoke of pursuit and pacing instances, with the former occurring when a car refuses to stop after emergency equipment is activated, and the latter mirroring the other speeding car’s speed for around a third of a mile before any emergency equipment is activated, which is what PC Foy was doing.
This is done for a number of reasons, including not spooking a driver and making them drive faster in a residential area and identifying a safe place for the other vehicle to be pulled over.
PC Gleave raised concerns over the planters on the central reservation in obstructing the view of a driver of anyone trying to cross the road.
Giving evidence himself, PC Matthew Foy, of Cheshire Police’s roads and crime unit, revealed he is an advanced driver with 20 years of experience with the force.
Police at the scene of the incident on Warrington Road in Penketh
He was aiming to target fatal-five offences – careless driving, drink and drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt, using a mobile phone and speeding – at the time of the collision.
The officer said he was pacing the offending vehicle, the driver of which did not face any further action, as an ANPR camera fitted to the vehicle had not picked up its registration due to it being night.
He said that as he had no further information about the vehicle, the only way to deal with the situation was to continue to pace, as to leave the vehicle would be neglect of duty.
He stated it was his intention to stop vehicle after came out of the built-up area in a layby as he did not know how the driver was going to react at that speed.
It was said that all he could see was a shape coming out from behind the planters and speedwalking across the road, not using the pelican crossing.
“I believed I was using police powers for policing purpose. That stretch of road is notorious for speeding. I feel there is nothing I could do to avoid the collision,” PC Foy said.
He added that he was constantly risk-assessing, was in the second lane, where cars not likely to turn into and pedestrians are less likely to be crossing from, and the traffic lights ahead were on green.
He also said he tried to take evasive action as best could, while nothing gave causation to stop him from pacing the vehicle.
Ian Thompson, an independent forensic collision investigator working for North Wales Police who assessed the scene, gave evidence of braking before the collision in a 1.3 second window.
Given the fact that Mr Wakefield was also wearing dark clothing, he was of the view it was not possible to avoid the collision, while a forensic vehicle examination revealed no contributory faults.
PC Chris Gamble, of Cheshire Police’s driving training, revealed that PC Foy passed all four possible stages of training and was one of only 121 officers in the force qualified for the final stage, which is retested every two years and includes tactics to manage and avoid pursuits.
He told the court that this was the first time he had seen footage of the incident, and on that, he would have acted exactly the same as PC Foy.
The inquest is set to continue in the coming days.
It was previously confirmed that PC Foy will not face criminal charges over the incident following a Crown Prosecution Service decision not to prosecute the officer.
He was the subject of discreditable conduct’ proceedings with Cheshire Police, in relation to a failure to activate his emergency warnings ‘while travelling at speed in a residential area’.
However he was allowed to keep his job after an independent panel heard concluded there was no case for him to answer.