Staffordshire PC Feared For Her Life After Being Crushed By Banned Driver

2 September 2019, 14:39 | Updated: 2 September 2019, 15:02

A drug dealer from Stafford whose car crushed a police officer into a fence, causing fractures to her leg and knee, has been jailed for 12 years and nine months.

Stafford Crown Court was told PC Claire Bond feared for her life and those of runners taking part in a nearby 10-kilometre road race, as she was thrown to the ground.

Gurajdeep Malhi, who's 26, was also handed a nine-year driving ban.

The court was told Malhi crashed into a garage and other vehicles and then tried to flee from a patrol car in Stafford last September, while on licence for committing a similar offence.

Pc Bond, aged 47, was trapped against a fence, dragged along for around six feet, and then thrown to the ground, moments after she had attempted to grab the keys from Malhi's BMW.

In a victim impact statement read to Stafford Crown Court, the mother-of-four, who is awaiting further surgery, thanked Pc Dave Mullins for pulling her to safety.

After asking to read her statement from the witness box, the officer told the court: "I have been a police officer for nearly 18 years and never before have I met anyone with such disregard for another human being than I did on September 23.

"I was carrying out my duty of protecting the public and all I wanted to do was to stop this man from driving as I felt he was going to kill someone if he carried on.

"When he used his car to drag me along that fence, I was so scared and knew immediately I was in trouble. I asked for him to stop but he did not. I was trying so hard to think how I could stop this from getting any worse.

"But me versus a car, there was only going to be one loser.

"When I landed on the floor I saw the car reverse lights come on and all I could think was: 'I'm going to die.'

"I can remember screaming for Dave and the next thing I knew the car had left. I'll be honest, I have never been through something so horrific in my life before.

"When I looked down towards my legs I did not believe they were mine. They were like a wobbly bowl of jelly and I could not feel them.

"The whole incident has left me not only physically scarred but also emotionally. My legs will never be the same again. I am currently unaware if I will be able walk correctly... let alone return to front-line duties.

"I have not slept through the night since this has happened as my legs constantly cramp and I have nightmares about being run over and leaving my family prematurely, compounding feelings I've held since losing my dad in a road traffic collision some years ago."

Passing sentence, Judge Chambers told the pair: "You were each involved together in dealing Class A drugs. Those offences provide the background to what occurred on September 23."

The judge told Malhi: "It must have been obvious to you what consequences you had caused (to Pc Bond) and you continued to drive to avoid arrest."