That ruins
“The list is endless. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
Across the sea in Belgium, where PC De Melemeester was born and raised, another family is also devastated.
“There’s no words that can ever begin to say how sorry I am, how sorry I am this happened. There’s nothing that can make it right,” the officer told the jury. Now she is facing a possible jail sentence and even if she is spared she may well be sacked by GMP, which will hold gross misconduct hearings against her and another officer who responded to the 999 call that night.
During her trial, a string of character testimonials were read out, some from colleagues and others from her family. They spoke of a shy woman who was so proud to come to study at university in England then realise her dream of becoming a police officer here.
“What always impressed me was how caring she was,” said PC Alice Millington. “I’m convinced that any mistake she feels she has made would constantly be on her mind.
“She’s her own worst critic and that would cause her never to repeat the same mistakes again.”
Her aunt in Belgium said ‘her dream job was at the police station,’ and that she had always talked about her work ‘with great dedication and respect.’
The jury heard her mental health had suffered during the Covid lockdown and it is understood she continues to be traumatised.
PC De Meulemeester told the court she was born and raised in Belgium and speaks Flemish, French and English. She came to the UK in 2014 and obtained a degree in criminal investigation and policing from De Montfort University in Leicestershire because she wanted a career in policing, the court was told.
After she graduated, the defendant failed in her first application to join Greater Manchester Police, but instead became a civilian call handler. But she made a second application and joined the force in early 2019.
She began a 20-week initial training course in July 2019 before being posted to the Stockport division under the care of a police tutor. After a further 10 weeks, she was regarded as ‘independent’ and could be dispatched to jobs on her own.
PC Meulemeester said she ‘absolutely loved’ her job.
The officer said since she passed her driving test in 2019 she had received no penalty points or speeding tickets and had not been involved in any accidents.
After joining GMP she said she was handed a ‘basic driving authority’ after spending half-an-hour ‘driving around’ with a senior colleague. She agreed she knew this ‘authority’ did not give her powers to ignore traffic laws and that she still had to abide by the Highway Code when responding to incidents.
The PC said she drove to incidents virtually every day on shift in different cars.
She said she had responded to ‘several’ socalled ‘grade one’ 999 calls, the most serious incidents, before the Boxing Day crash and had never encountered problems previously.
The trial heard the defendant and other officers were sent an email which said officers who only had ‘basic driving authority’ should not be sent to jobs where there was a ‘degree of urgency’ if the only way to get there required them to exceed the speed limit and ‘contravene’ traffic signals.
PC Meulemeester said there had been other emails and ‘a lot of confusion,’ with some alerts suggesting officers with ‘basic driving authority’ couldn’t respond to grade one incidents and others saying they could.
“It changed quite a few times whether you can or cannot attend,” the officer told the court, although she agreed she did not have the power to contravene traffic laws no matter what the nature of the call-out.
Her evidence suggested confusion amongst police officers about how to respond to the most serious 999 calls.
GMP will hold gross misconduct hearings against the PC, and a second police, officer which are expected to examine police driver conduct, and culture.