Darlington police driver admits causing crash that killed OAP

Muriel Pinkney was a passenger on a motorbike, which had been travelling on Dunston Road in Gateshead, when it was involved in a collision with a marked police car.

But PC Mark Roberts, 56, denied causing death by dangerous driving when he Appearing at Durham Crown Court.

The Northumbria police officer faces trial next year.  He will also be tried for causing serious injury to the rider of the same motorbike by dangerous driving.

The 56-year-old officer has, in each case, admitted that both the death of Muriel Pinkney and the serious injury to her husband Ronald, who was 77 at the time, were caused by his careless driving.

Mr Pinkney suffered multiple fractures to his leg, hip and pelvis, in a collision with the officer’s marked police vehicle, on Dunston Road, near to the Metrocentre, in Gateshead, shortly after 3pm on Friday July 8, 2022.

Durham Crown Court was told that the prosecution in the case does not accept those pleas and therefore a trial will be required on the two dangerous driving charges.

(Image: The Northern Echo) (Image: Northumbria Police)A date was provisionally agreed for the trial, lasting up to a week, to be heard at the court starting on May 11, 2026.

But the court was told that the venue may change administratively and it may be heard at Teesside Crown Court.

If that is agreed then the date may also be altered.

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Judge Nathan Adams bailed the defendant pending trial, subject to confirmation of the date and venue, following clarification of the acting resident judge, Judge Jonathan Carroll, at Teesside Crown Court.

The crash sparked an investigation by the Independent Office For Police Conduct (IOPC), which was completed in December 2023.

The IOPC then referred its evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which authorised charges.

 

 

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