An ARMY signals expert who supervised the Royal princes during their training has been jailed for killing a policeman.
Staff sergeant Steven Graham yanked on the handbrake of local bobby PC Joe Carroll's patrol car as they travelled at 70mph.
PC Carroll, 46, who later died of his injuries, was driving Graham away from a domestic incident at Hexham, Northumberland, to a police station in Newcastle when the car overturned on the A69 road.
Graham admitted manslaughter.
Jailing him for five-and-a-half years at Newcastle Crown Court today, Judge David Hodson said: "A moment of madness has ruined your life.
"After nearly 22 years of loyal devoted service to your country and to the Army you will be dishonourably discharged.
"Whilst it is accepted that you did not intend to harm let alone kill anyone that was an extremely dangerous action on your part and on which you must be punished today."
The court heard due to his dishonourable discharge Graham had lost all but £9,000 of his £180,000 Army pension.
Judge Hodson said PC Carroll's victim impact statement was the most moving he had ever read.
"The love that she has lost is there to be read in every line.
"She is restrained, compassionate, and composed and if I may so extremely dignified.
"It is the most moving document of its kind I have ever read."
PC Carroll was described as a "good old fashioned copper" and had worked as a community officer for 13 years.
The court heard how during 22-years in the military Graham has served in two Gulf Wars as well as time in Bosnia, Kosovo and Northern Ireland at the height of the hostilities.
During his recent past at the prestigious Sandhurst Military Academy Graham served with Harry, 21, and William, 23.
The princes would have been supervised by signals expert Graham during exercises at Salisbury Plain and the Brecon Beacons.
On one tough march in the Welsh mountains earlier this year William was spotted carrying Graham's section's large radio on his back.
A source said: "We know Graham saw the princes during exercises. It is inevitable he came across them as part of their daily life on campus."
Graham's girlfriend told PC Carroll and Insp English he had recently served in the Gulf War and found the situation very traumatic.
She complained that the army was not providing him with enough support.
During an earlier court hearing Graham's army record was produced and showed there had been problems with him drinking in the past.
On the night of the incident Graham he told police he had drunk a bottle of wine and 16 pints of beer.
He had been arrested for breach of the peace after he fell out with his girlfriend outside her home in West Woodburn, Northumberland.
Because there were no cells at Hexham police station he was being taken to Etal Lane police station in Newcastle.
It was as they approached the junction of the A68, at Corbridge, Northumberland, in the early hours of the morning that Graham yanked the handbrake so hard it went to 17 clicks.
PC Carroll's colleague Inspector Brian English, who was in the front passenger seat, suffered minor injuries.
Prosecutor Kingsley Hyland said: "Graham had spent the evening drinking with his girlfriend.
"When they returned to her home they began to argue and she called the police because she feared for her safety.
"When the police arrived she told them she wanted him out of her home and because they had nowhere else to go he was taken to the cells to sleep it off.
"At this point he appeared calm and non-confrontational.
"It was decided that they would not handcuff him.
"After three or four miles he asked the officers to stop to buy him cigarettes.
"They declined and he threw his wallet into the front of the car."
Graham then leaned forward and said 'I'm not going to Newcastle' and pulled on the handbrake.
The car skidded, went up an embankment, flipped onto its roof and rolled twice.
When help arrived Insp English had climbed free of the wrecked panda car.
PC Carroll was in the front seat and Graham was in the back.
Graham said: "He is a dead man. I know a dead man when I see one, I'm in the Army."
He then told hospital staff he deserved to hang for what he had done.
PC Carroll's death shocked the tiny community of West Woodburn in Northumberland, where he lived with his teacher wife Caroline, 46.
The beat bobby, who was stationed in Bellingham, Northumberland, for 13 years as a community officer was described as a "good, old fashioned copper" by Northumbria Police Chief Mike Craik.
His wife Caroline said in a statement released after his funeral: "Joe, my vibrant and fun loving husband, was killed because of a selfish act.
"Steven Graham was thoughtless and foolish. He did not think of the consequences of his actions.
"He now has time to contemplate the error of this.
"My hopes, dreams and plans for the future died with Joe.
"I am slowly reforming my life."
Caroline and Joe met at church when they were both students at Sunderland Polytechnic. They had no children.
The country bobby loved the outdoor life, including walking, hiking, and rowing. He raised a large amount of sponsorship money for St Gemma's Hospice in Leeds through his sports.
He was born in West Yorkshire.
He is survived by his two sisters, Mary and Trish, and his mother Hilda Carroll, who all still live in West Yorkshire.
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