Widow describes police car crash

Jean Williams said her husband could not avoid the crash

A woman has described to a jury the moment a police car went out of control on a country lane and crashed into her vehicle, killing her husband.

Jean Williams, 65, told Liverpool Crown Court she had been admiring the north Lancashire scenery when she saw two police cars hurtling towards them.

The car driven by Pc Sean Schofield hit the couple's VW Touran head-on. Peter Williams, 67, died the next day.

Pc Schofield and Andrew Massingham deny causing death by dangerous driving.

The officers were on a training exercise testing a device to catch speeding drivers, when the crash happened near Over Kellett in north Lancashire on 2 November.

Mrs Williams, from Bolton-le-Sands, Lancashire, told the jury the couple had set off from home 15 minutes before the crash on a weekend trip to the Yorkshire Dales.

If my husband had swerved he would have hit the front police car Jean Williams

Nick Johnson QC, prosecuting, asked Mrs Williams, who was also injured in the crash, if she could remember the last moments before the accident.

"There were two police cars coming towards us. I saw the front offside wheel of the rear police car wobbled," she said.

"Then immediately the car shot off across the road in front of us along the grass verge and back towards us."

The court has heard that Pc Schofield's car was travelling up to 104mph (167km/h) in the moments before the crash.

"The only thing that went through my mind was there was nowhere to go," Mrs Williams said.

"If my husband had swerved he would have hit the front police car."

Both officers deny the charge

The crash happened on a stretch of the B6254 "peppered with hidden hazards" and a 60mph (96.5km/h) speed limit, the court heard.

Pc Massingham was the instructor for the training exercise and prosecutors allege that he was dictating the speed his trainee was driving.

Earlier the court heard from Martin Greaves, a retired sergeant in Lancashire Police traffic division, who worked as an accident investigator.

He said training exercises had to be "realistic" and put officers under pressure.

He said the instructor decided the speeds at which the exercises were carried out, and that such exercises were exempt from speed limits under the Road Traffic Act.

Simon Russell-Flint QC, defending Pc Schofield, said: "If the instructor drives off at 80mph (128.7km/h), the student's going to have to follow? He needs to be able to keep pace. He's got to go faster to catch him up?"

"Very probably yes," Mr Greaves replied.

The retired sergeant was asked if it would be safe for a competent driver to drive more than 100mph (160.9km/h) on the road where the crash happened.

He replied: "It's feasible. I wouldn't. If someone said go down that road at 100mph, I would say 'No'. I think 100mph would be too fast. That's my opinion."

The trial was adjourned and the jury will be taken to the crash site on Friday.