Croydon: A policeman who killed a Croydon pedestrian when he crashed responding to a 999 call has been cleared of causing death by dangerous driving.

PC Gary Moncrieff, 26, was accused of driving like a "bat out of hell" before he ploughed his unmarked Ford Mondeo into a traffic island on January 7 this year.

The Scottish officer allegedly hit speeds of 60mph when he tried to overtake two cars by driving on the wrong side of the road.

One motorist had told Blackfriars Crown Court that he thought Moncrieff was ei ther a "boy racer" or a criminal.

The policeman, who lives in Thamesmead, swerved to avoid an oncoming taxi and careered straight into a pedestrian island in Kennington, south east London.

His vehicle felled a traffic light pole which collapsed and struck Ravinthiran Sivanesan on the head. Mr Sivanesan, from Mitcham Road, died of head injuries 11 days later.

But giving evidence Moncrieff maintained his driving was reasonable and b lamed the accident on two "aggressive" motorists who would not let him overtake, blocking his "safe gap".

It took the jury just three hours to acquit Moncrieff of causing death by dangerous driving, but he may still face a disciplinary charge.

The family of 27-year-old Ravint hiran Sivanesan, from Mitcham Road, say they are "devastated" by the verdict.

Family spokesman and cousin of the deceased, Mahadevan Jeyr ajah, said: "The family have lost a cousin and a brother by a collision with a police officer.

"The man who was the cause of the death is not guilty, so who killed him?"

The victim's 32-year-old brother, Suthakaran Sivanesan from Haslemere Road in Thornton Heath, this week spoke o f how his brother worked six days a week at an off-licence in Kennington to support his mother in Sri Lanka.

Mr Sivanesan also revealed that this was the second tragedy to hit the family. In 1986 his 26-year-old civilian brother, Prabakaran, was killed by Sri Lankan government forces during the civil war.

A spokesman from the Met Police said: "We will look very closely at the incident and seek any lessons to be learned."

Mr Moncrieff's family burst into tears of relief when the verdict was announced.

December 19, 2001 12:30