An undercover police officer who killed a pedestri

An undercover police officer who killed a pedestrian while speeding to a crime scene in an unmarked car drove like a boy racer, a jury heard today.

(Tues)

Andrew Pointer, who was in the passenger seat of a car driven by partner Margaret Traynor, thought a ‘villain’ may have been sat the wheel of the speeding Ford Mondeo.

But jurors have heard that Pc Gary Moncrieff, 26, was at the wheel of the car as he drove like ‘a bat out of hell’ after receiving an urgent call.

Moncrieff hit speeds of up to 60 mph and failed to keep his eyes on the road as he overtook cars down the wrong side of a busy London street, it is claimed.

The PC failed to see an oncoming taxi and swerved into a set of pedestrian traffic lights which collapsed hitting Ravinthiran Sivanesan, 27, as he stood at a crossing.

Mr Sivanesan died of head injuries eleven days later, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.

Moncrieff was parked outside Kennington Police Station in southeast London when he got a call to attend a nearby Costcutter supermarket on January 7 this year.

He overtook the couple by driving onto the wrong side of the road and failed to notice a London Taxi heading in the opposite direction, it is alleged.

Giving evidence Mr Pointer said he thought Moncrieff was either a ‘boy racer, cowboy or a hooligan.

‘

Mr Pointer, a HGV driver from Dartford, Kent, said earlier he had been to the London Eye with partner Margaret Traynor and their seven-year-old
daughter.

He put the Mondeo’s speed as being ‘motorway speed’ – at least 60 mph – before he crashed at the pedestrian island on Kennington Road, south London.

‘It was going incredibly fast.

My initial feelings was that they were villains of some description to be going that fast.

‘

The court heard that Moncrieff was taking part in an undercover operation to tackle robberies in Lambeth, called ‘Operation Tippett’.

His car had no siren, two tone stripes or flashing lights, the court heard.

Four marked cars and Moncrieff’s undercover vehicle.

had responded to the emergency call from a policewoman at the supermarket,

Miss Traynor told the court: ‘All I remember was it was going very fast, the brake lights were going on,
then it hit the concrete of the central reservation where the traffic light is.

‘I wasn’t aware there was anyone one there.

‘I realised there was someone on the ground by the traffic lights.

‘I went to speak to the man on the floor.

I said something like: ‘Things really will be OK’ and held his hand.

‘

The fatally injured man made no reply but squeezed Mrs Traynor’s hand.

But Anthony Pitts, defending Moncrieff, alleged that the officer crashed because his overtaking was
blocked by Mrs Traynor speeding up.

And he suggested that Mr Pointer might have been driving: ‘Maybe Mr Pointer was driving.

Maybe he was the one who thought, perhaps this was a cowboy overtaking, some young hooligan, and moved to block him.

‘Tha is essentially the defence case.

‘

But both Mrs Traynor and Mr Pointer said Moncrieff did not sound his horn or flash his lights before the smash.

Bit giving evidence the other passenger in Moncrieff’s car, Pc Dominic Taylor, said the defendant used his horn ‘almost constantly’ before the collision.

Scotsman Moncrieff, of Thamesmead, south London, denies causing death by dangerous driving.

The trial continues.

ends

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