Metropolitan Police Service officer given suspended jail sentence for causing death by careless driving

A Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer has been given a suspended jail sentence for causing death by careless driving following a collision at a zebra crossing. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigated the circumstances of the collision in which pedestrian Andrew MacIntyre Brown was fatally injured.

PC Daniel Francis, aged 33, was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, when he appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday 4 February, having previously pleaded guilty. He was also ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work, given a four-month electronic curfew, disqualified from driving for 18 months and will then be required to take an extended driving test.

Our investigation, which began following a mandatory referral from the MPS, established that PC Francis was driving a marked police car on Whitton Road, Hounslow, at around midnight on 1 November 2019, when he accelerated to catch up with a vehicle from which a firework had been thrown. At a pedestrian crossing outside Hounslow BR Railway Station, the police car was in collision with Mr MacIntyre Brown, 23. He was taken to hospital but died from his injuries on 5 November. A 16-year-old boy was also taken to hospital with serious injuries sustained in the collision.

The investigation indicated that the police car had no lights or sirens activated and was travelling at 61mph on a stretch of road with a 20mph as it approached the crossing outside ABC. At the time of impact, the speed of the police car was 54mph.

IOPC Regional Director Sal Naseem said: “I offer my sincere condolences again to the family of Andrew MacIntyre Brown at this time. The public expects police officers to respond to incidents immediately, but they are required to consider the safety of other road users.

“The evidence we gathered indicated that the officer did not have sufficient regard to other road users, who had right of way on the crossing, when he drove along that part of the road. The nature of PC Francis’ driving involved a greater risk than necessary and meant a collision was sadly unavoidable.”

At the end of our investigation in May 2021, we passed our findings to the Crown Prosecution Service which authorised a charge of causing death by careless driving. Our investigation also found that PC Francis has a case to answer for gross misconduct in relation to breaching the professional standard for duties and responsibilities. It will now be for the MPS to organise disciplinary proceedings.

During the investigation, investigators interviewed PC Francis under criminal caution and served the officer with a notice of investigation for gross misconduct. Investigators took statements from two other officers present in the police vehicle at the time of the collision, obtained expert evidence from a forensic collision investigator, reviewed CCTV, body worn video footage and information from the police car data recorder.