Met with officer who failed to check woman and child killed in crash keeps job

A Met police officer who failed to check on a woman and child killed by the driver of a car they were chasing in south-east London has kept his job.

PC Edward Welch was chasing Joshua Dobby through Penge when Dobby, then 23, mounted the pavement and hit a family, killing 10-year-old actor Makayah McDermott and his aunt Rozanne Cooper, 34 years old. A third child was taken to hospital with serious injuries following the accident in August 2016.

At a police hearing on Friday (June 14), PC Welch was given a final written warning, which lasts 18 months. A committee chaired by Cameron Brown found that the officer’s decision to continue to pursue Dobby on foot after the collision, instead of checking on the injured pedestrians, amounted to gross misconduct.

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A separate allegation against PC Welch for failing to properly assess the level of risk during the pursuit or failing to accurately communicate the circumstances to the police control room amounted to misconduct, the commission found.

PC Welch was removed over the deaths of McDermott and Cooper at the Old Bailey in December 2022. Joshua Dobby was jailed for 12 years in 2017 after admitting two counts of manslaughter by gross negligence and one count of wounding serious by dangerous driving. .

The misconduct hearing at Palestra House in Southwark, South London heard the BMW PC Welch was driving reached speeds of more than 60mph during the six-minute pursuit of Dobby, a crack and heroin addict.

PC Welch and his BMW colleague and passenger, Jack Keher, began the pursuit after a number plate recognition camera filmed the Ford Focus Dobby at the wheel. The vehicle was reported stolen from a property in Orpington, south London earlier this month.

After the pursuit began, the Ford Focus began behaving erratically, breaking the speed limit, going down one-way roads in the wrong direction and making illegal left and right turns. Despite this, the two officers chose to continue the pursuit and repeatedly failed to report risks to the control center or underestimated their seriousness.

Ailsa Williamson, representing PC Welch at the hearing, said he was a “talented officer” who made an “error of judgement” in “exceptionally unusual circumstances”.

She added: “PC Welch is carrying out his policing duties but has opted for the wrong policing priority. (…) There was a legitimate police purpose in pursuing the subject. (…) The panel found that there was an error of judgment in failing to fulfill the other legitimate police purpose of providing first aid.”

Williamson also drew attention to a character reference provided by Superintendent Rob Shepherd, who said PC Welch was the “highest performing” officer of the 700 he was in charge of.

PC Welch joined the Met in 2008 and has been based in Bromley since the start of his career. He passed his advanced driving training in 2013 and had undertaken five pursuits prior to the one on 31 August 2016, including one which he aborted after the driver went over a grass verge.

Keher, 35, has left the Met since the incident. He previously served in the military, including completing a tour in Afghanistan. Although the case was also proven against Keher, the panel ruled that he would not have been dismissed if he was still serving time, so no penalty was imposed.

Mel Palmer, Regional Director of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said: “Our thoughts go out to the families of Makayah and Rozanne, who sadly lost their lives, and to everyone affected by this incident.

“Officers must assess the risks before engaging in a pursuit and continually reassess this throughout. Any prosecution must be proportionate and take into account the surrounding circumstances, including the risk to public safety.

“We found that the officers’ actions in pursuing a stolen car at speeds of up to three times the speed limit in an area with heavy traffic and pedestrians during the school holidays were not proportionate or justified given the apparent risk to public safety .

“The officers also failed in their duty of care to protect lives following the collision by pursuing the offender rather than immediately going to the aid of the victims.”

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