A POLICEMAN has denied being a cavalier hero who took safety risks before being involved in a crash which killed a young bride-to-be.

PC Thomas Hart told a jury at Teesside Crown Court that he did not believe it was dangerous to take a bend at 77mph in his Vauxhall Vivaro van.

The officer admitted never wearing his seatbelt when driving a police van, but insisted that his safety was “paramount” because of his young son.

Tim Parkin, prosecuting, asked PC Hart if he was racing colleagues to get to a 999 call because he considered himself a hero, to which he replied: “No”.

He also denied trying to share the blame with victim Aimee Welsh by saying her car was in the middle of the road when the accident happened.

PC Hart, 28, said he accepted the Peugeot 207 was in the correct lane when his van went out of control and slid into it head-on last October.

In a prepared statement given to officers when he was questioned, he told of his “dismay” and “devastation”

at being involved in the crash.

Miss Welsh, 25, lost her fight for life nearly a month after the collision on the outskirts of Middlesbrough on October 18, last year.

The jury has heard that PC Hart was responding to a 999 call in Stockton and Miss Welsh was driving her fiance home from a night out.

The officer, 28, was interviewed after Miss Welsh died of multiple injuries, but refused to answer some questions on the advice of his solicitor.

In the lengthy statement, he said his van “started to rock quite violently” seconds before the crash on the Newport Bridge Approach Road.

PC Hart said he had taken a prisoner to Middlesbrough police station when 999 operators said a woman had called from Stockton, screaming for help.

In the statement, he said he put on the van’s flashing lights and drove over the bridge, where his vehicle’s rocking “took me completely by surprise”.

“I have never felt this in any vehicle before,” he said.

“The vehicle became unstable, and I genuinely thought it was going to physically tip over.”

The statement said he tried to reduce speed and brake to help stabilise the van, but it went into a slide and collided with the Peugeot.

PC Hart’s statement continued: “I do not believe at any time I allowed the standard of my driving to fall below that of a careful and competent driver.

“I have been informed that the female driver of the Peugeot has since died. I am devastated by this news, and I wish to give my sincere condolences to the family.”

PC Hart, from Ryhope, Sunderland, denies a charge of causing death by careless driving. The jury is expected to be sent out to consider its verdict this afternoon.

The case continues.