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Speeding police car killed driver
A motorist died after a speeding police car ploughed into him as it travelled on the wrong side of a road on a blind bend, a court was told today.

Gareth Edward James, 43, suffered multiple injuries and died on his way to hospital after the accident on a winding country road in mid Wales.

Det Con Ashley Scott Brice, 33, of Dyfed-Powys Police, who was driving the unmarked police car, appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court yesterday, charged with causing death by dangerous driving.

The court was told that Brice was at the back of a convoy of three other cars stuck behind a lorry travelling at 35mph on the A483 near Dolfor, Powys, at around 7.30am on October 10, 2005.

Geraint Walters, prosecuting, described how the cars overtook the lorry one by one on a straight stretch of the road that has a 60mph speed limit. As he overtook the lorry, Brice sped up to around 89mph in his Ford Mondeo and continued overtaking the three other cars.

When he reached the bend, he steered sharply to try and pull back on to the correct side of the road, lost control and hit a hedge before careering into the path of Mr James' Vauxhall Astra. Witnesses said that Brice was "going like hell" as he tried to overtake before the bend.

Mr Walters said: "Overtaking a convoy of four vehicles at speeds of between 80 and 90mph on a bend - the only way to avoid a collision is pure luck." He was not in pursuit of anybody, but was on his way to meet a colleague. Brice, from Kerry in Newtown, said that he did not know what speed he was travelling at and that he believed mechanical failure was responsible for the accident.

Brice sped up to around 89mph in his Ford Mondeo and continued overtaking the three other cars.

Before I accept that article, I'd like to know how they came up with so precies a figure but then stick around before it.

Before I accept that article, I'd like to know how they came up with so precies a figure but then stick around before it.