An inquest into the death of a man killed by a banned driver whose stolen car was catapulted over the central reservation of a motorway has questioned a tactic used by police up and down the country to stop fleeing criminals. Gavin Engelbrecht reports.

WHEN father-of-two Billy Forrest set off early for work to miss the rush-hour traffic he was oblivious to the danger hurtling towards him.

A fine summer morning, there was little traffic on the road as the printer made his way from his home in Newcastle to Sense Creative, on the Yarm Road Business Park, Darlington.

Travelling in the opposite direction was a Mitsubishi L200, driven by the banned and intoxicated driver Barry Taylor, who was being chased by up to five police cars.

When the pick-up catapulted across the central reservation, having struck two of the patrol cars, Mr Forrest did not stand a chance and was killed instantly.

The crash placed under the spotlight, as never before, the tolerance of wire rope safety fences placed between opposing motorway carriageways.

During the inquest into Mr Forrest’s death, solicitors for his family questioned their use during an approved boxing manoeuvre employed by police to bring fleeing cars to a safe stop – known as Tactical Pursuit and Containment (Tepac).

The drama unfolded in the early hours of Friday, July 18, when Taylor – who had just been released from prison on licence – broke into a house in Pelaw, Chester-le-Street, and stole the keys to the pick-up parked outside.

The Mitsubishi was later picked up by number plate recognition cameras.

Sergeant Ian Kelly, who was at the Darlington police station, acted on a hunch and headed to the A1(M) interchange, near Newton Aycliffe.

His intuition was rewarded when Taylor came off the motorway, but after leading him through the Aycliffe Industrial Estate he headed back towards the A1(M) and north.

What ensued was pieced together after the tragedy by accident investigators using a combination of a satellite tracking system, patrol car black boxes and graphic footage shot by a police helicopter.

The inquest was told only specially-trained officers could use the Tepac manoeuvre, which involves two patrol cars getting ahead of the “subject” vehicle and slowing it down.

One of the patrol cars “quarters” it, while a third comes in from behind. The safety fence is used as the fourth side of the box as the “subject” is slowed further and brought to a managed and safe halt.

Between the Bradbury and Bowburn interchanges, Taylor twice managed to evade the boxing manoeuvre, colliding with Sgt Kelly on both occasions.

As the convoy approached Bowburn, PC Richard Gatland accelerated to the hard shoulder to ensure Taylor did not leave the motorway on the slip road. He then pulled up in front of Taylor, while nowretired PC Kevin Hardman drew up next to him.

As a box van appeared ahead, Mr Hardman slowed to allow Taylor to get past – hoping he would overtake it on the hard shoulder.

But Taylor veered sharply to the left and then the right, clipping PC Gatland’s car before hitting the safety fence and catapulting into the path of Mr Forrest’s Peugeot.

The hearing was told had Taylor not collided with PC Gatland’s patrol car he would not have crossed the central reservation.

Steve Bishop, of the Highways Agency, said in the five-year period to December last year, there had been 669 cases of vehicles colliding with the central barrier on the County Durham stretch of the A1(M). Of these, seven collisions had resulted in “crossovers”. These had caused 11 serious and ten slight injuries – in addition to the death of Mr Forrest.

At the end of the inquest, Coroner Andrew Tweddle said that, having considered all the evidence, he hoped the inquest findings would go some way to preventing another fatality.

A spokesman for Durham Police said afterwards: “We expect feedback from the coroner in due course.”