Police death drunk driver jailed

Pcs Bryan Moore and Andrew Munn were killed in August 2002

A drunk driver who killed two Leics police officers when he smashed his van into their car during a high-speed chase has been jailed for 14 years.

Leayon Dudley, 41, from, of Oakhurst Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham had pleaded guilty to two manslaughter charges at a retrial.

He was originally jailed for life for the deaths of Pcs Andrew Munn and Bryan Moore on the A42 in Leics in 2002.

Then, Dudley was convicted of murdering one and unlawfully killing the other.

He was chased for about 50 miles across four counties in the west and east Midlands before hitting the patrol car at more than 80mph as it stood in a lay-by at Worthington, Leicestershire.

Your decision condemned one officer, and his passenger to death Judge Mr Justice Mitting

The car exploded in a fireball, killing the two officers.

The Leics officers, based in Shepshed, had been laying a stinger-type device to puncture the tyres of the speeding Ford Transit van, forcing the father- of-two - who was nearly twice the drink-drive limit - to stop.

He pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Pc Andrew Munn, 37, from Shepshed, and his colleague, Bryan Moore, 39, from Long Eaton, Derbyshire, last week.

A legal technicality prevented the prosecution from pursuing a murder charge against Dudley.

A retrial was due to start last Monday but the prosecution was unable to bring a second trial on two counts of murder as Dudley had already been acquitted of the murder of Pc Munn.

Leayon Dudley pleaded guilty at his retrial

Sentencing him at Stafford Crown Court on Monday, Judge Mr Justice Mitting, said: "Your decision condemned one officer, and as it happens, his passenger to death.

"I sentence you on the basis that you deliberately took a risk of the life of at least one and as it happened two police officers doing their duty.

"It is the duty of the courts to do their best to protect the lives of police officers doing their duty."

Dudley's appeal against his original convictions was upheld by the Court of Appeal, which ordered the re-trial in November last year.

The court had ruled the verdicts reached in the original trial were unsafe on the grounds Dudley had not been allowed to call an expert in road visibility as a defence witness.

On Monday Dudley was also disqualified from driving for 10 years.