Crash Pc 'sped through red light'

The police car was transporting a man arrested at Gatwick Airport

A policeman taking a prisoner into custody sped through a red light before colliding with a car, causing the death of its driver, a court has heard.

Karen Stagg, 47, was killed and her son injured when the 4x4 hit her Ford in Crawley, West Sussex, in January 2005.

Pc Nicholas Andrews-Faulkner, a Sussex Police officer from Hassocks, denies causing death by dangerous driving.

Winchester Crown Court heard he turned on his blue lights and siren but this did not allow him to drive dangerously.

Christopher Donnellan, prosecuting, said: "The blue lights and siren acted as a warning to others but do not give him any right to ignore the rules of the road."

He said the 45-year-old officer had not slowed down, checked to the left, or checked the road ahead.

It was with total disregard for the safety of other vehicles Christopher Donnellan

Mr Donnellan said the officer "did the opposite of what was sensible" and carried on accelerating, reaching a speed of 48mph in the 40mph zone.

He said: "It was with total disregard for the safety of other vehicles on the road and contradictory to his training and to common sense."

The court had heard that his prisoner, George Hilsdon, had begun to bang his head against the window and the officer turned on his blue lights to take the man into custody as soon as possible.

But Mr Donnellan said another officer in the back of the Mitsubishi Shogun to control the prisoner "had not asked him to treat this as an emergency".

'Training ignored'

He said neither officer asked the control room for assistance, and Pc Andrews-Faulkner could have asked for a vehicle with a secure prisoner section but did not.

Mr Hilsdon had been arrested for being drunk and disorderly on a flight to Gatwick from Cyprus.

Earlier, jurors heard Pc Andrews-Faulkner ignored training which obliged him to treat a red light as a stop or give way.

Mrs Stagg, an IT systems manager from East Grinstead, and her husband had been taking it in turns to test drive a BMW.

Her husband was in the BMW in front of her car when the accident happened in Gatwick Road.

Her son, Phillip, 12, a passenger in her car, suffered a broken arm.

The case continues.