Teenage car thief guilty of killing PC Dave Phillips with stolen truck

Clayton Williams, 19, killed PC Phillips just three weeks after coming out of jail on licence for crashing another stolen car in a police pursuit. 

Today Williams was handed a 20-year prison sentence.

The father-of-two, who died of his injuries in hospital, is pictured here with his wife Jen and two children Abigail, left, and Sophie, right

He drove at the 34-year-old officer at around 50mph in the three-ton Mitsubishi L200 truck in what the prosecution alleged was a "cowardly and merciless act".

But jurors at Manchester Crown Court cleared him of murder and convicted him of the alternative count of manslaughter, after finding that he did not intend to kill or seriously injure the officer.

PC Phillips, a father of two, was thrown into the air and died almost instantly from "catastrophic" injuries in the incident in Wallasey Dock Link Road in the early hours of October 5 last year.

PC Phillips suffered fatal injuries when he was hit by the stolen Mitsubishi being driven by Williams

Cannabis-addict Williams, who said he had been using the drug since the age of six, admitted his dangerous driving caused PC Phillips' death, but maintained he did not intend to injure anyone and only wanted to evade capture and not go back to jail.

The officer had been crouched on the kerbside deploying a tyre-puncturing stinger device to end the 80mph chase when Williams mounted the central reservation and drove at him.

Williams told the jury of nine women and three men that he was trying to drive around the stinger spikes and did not see PC Phillips until the second before impact.

He narrowly missed PC Phillips' colleague, PC Thomas Birkett, 23, and was earlier cleared by the jury of a charge of attempted grievous bodily harm with intent against that officer.

Pursuing police cars radioed "Officer down! Officer down!" and stopped the chase to tend to their colleague who lay dying in the road as Williams vanished into the night.

He dumped the car, showered, burnt his clothes and gave his phone away before he was arrested the next day.

PC Phillips' widow, Jen, 29, and the couple's daughters, Abigail, seven, and Sophie, three, described him as a loving, caring "super daddy" in moving floral tributes laid at the scene of his death.

Today, Mrs Phillips, his sisters Hannah Whieldon and Kate, and mother and father, Robin and Carol, watched from the public gallery as the jury delivered its verdict.

During the two-week trial they had relived the final moments of his life as a video recording of the incident was played frame by frame, over and over again in court as Williams denied murder.

Mrs Phillips wiped tears from her eyes as the verdict was delivered, but there was no reaction from Williams in the dock.

Helen Graves, senior crown prosecutor with Mersey-Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Williams drove a stolen vehicle at dangerously high speeds through residential areas and then collided with a police officer who was simply doing his duty.

"His actions on that night have devastated the family of PC Phillips and robbed the police force of an upstanding and valuable member of the team. This has been a complex and difficult case and the CPS would like to thank Merseyside Police for their help in bringing this case to court.

"The family of PC Phillips have behaved with tremendous dignity and courage throughout this trial, despite having to face the details of the last moments of their beloved husband, father, son and brother.

"Our thoughts remain with them at this very difficult time."

Jurors were not told full details of Williams' previous criminal record or evidence from other defendants, who had already pleaded guilty, that contradicted what he told the jury from the witness box.

Philip Stuart, 30, who burgled the property and was a passenger in the Mitsubishi told police seconds before hitting PC Phillips, Williams said to him: "Watch this!"

Williams had smoked four or five spliffs and was on his way back from a drug deal to buy more cannabis before coming across a premises, Oxton Estates, in Birkenhead and agreeing to burgle the property with Stuart, around 1am on October 5.

By the time the 69-year-old resident living above his shop got downstairs the vehicle and many other items were gone.

The defendant, who had a photo of him smoking a spliff as his Facebook profile, took a photo of the stolen vehicle and sent it to a friend on his mobile to show off.

Aged 18 at the time, he had come out of a Young Offenders Institute on September 11, just three weeks before PC Phillips was killed.

In May last year he had been caught and jailed after he was again pursued by police in a Vauxhall Astra stolen in a burglary, reportedly narrowly missing a pedestrian before smashing into a lamp-post in Wallasey.

After taking the Mitsubishi, Williams was spotted by police at 1.58am but made off at speed followed by an unmarked police BMW and a liveried police Volvo, which began recording the chase on a dashboard camera.

Williams clocked 80mph as he drove over several miles through Wirral during the 10-minute pursuit, at one point hitting a parked Ford Fiesta.

PC Phillips, working a 10pm to 7am night shift from Wallasey police station with PC Birkett, scrambled to help the pursuit, driving to Wallasey Docks Link Road, where PC Phillips, standing on the central reservation, threw the stinger device across the dual carriageway.

Just before 2.08am the truck and pursuing police cars approached the area, with Williams doing 70mph on the 30mph stretch of road.

Williams mounted the central reservation then turned sharply left striking the officer with the front of the truck before PC Birkett jumped out of the way.

There was insufficient evidence to say exactly how fast Williams was driving at the time of impact, but the minimum estimate given in court was 50mph.

Despite efforts to save his life, PC Phillips was pronounced dead in hospital at 3.15am.

Williams told the jury he would do "anything" to get away from police and not go back to prison and scared when they began to chase him.

"It's just adrenaline you get when you get behind the wheel," he said.

After dumping the car he went to his aunt's house in Wallasey and "broke down crying" telling the jury he needed a cuddle from his grandmother.

His co-accused Stuart later told police he called a family member to say: "I'm going down. I've killed a bizzie."

While there he showered, burned his clothes, gave his phone away, and claimed he intended to give himself up but was arrested while arranging to meet a solicitor.

Williams said: "I was scared. Everyone was telling me I was going to get life. I only just got out after a short sentence.

"I didn't intend to kill him, I just went out to rob the shop."

He complained arresting officers kept calling him a "scumbag" and answered "no comment" to questions but submitted prepared statements with the help of his solicitor where he accepted he was involved in the burglary and was the driver of the truck.

Later Williams, of Wheatland Lane, Wallasey, said he was "a cannabis addict" who was heavily under the influence at the time of the incident.   

He had earlier admitted the charge of burglary when he took the vehicle and aggravated vehicle taking, the aggravated element being the death of PC Phillips.

The defendant maintained while he drove dangerously and was responsible for PC Phillips' death, he never intended to harm or injure any officers and only wanted to escape capture to avoid going back to jail.

The video above is an edited version of the CCTV shown in court for the trial of Clayton Williams released by Merseyside Police.