PC shot twice in chest 'died from terrible injuries'

A SPECIAL constable was shot twice in the chest at close range, his colleague was struck four times and other officers were later fired at with a Kalashnikov after a routine check on two men in a car, a jury heard yesterday.

An Old Bailey court heard that PC Glenn Goodman, a special constable in the North Yorkshire Police, died from 'terrible injuries' but his colleague PC Alexander Kelly survived shots in the chest, arm and buttocks; one bullet remains in his body.

Another shot fired at PC Kelly embedded itself in the radio handset he was holding at the side of his head. 'It almost certainly saved his life,' said John Nutting, for the prosecution.

Mr Nutting was opening the case against Paul Magee, 42, and Michael O'Brien, 28, who deny the murder of PC Goodman and the attempted murders of PC Kelly and two other officers, PCs Mark Whitehouse and Susan Larkin. They also deny possession of a firearm.

Mr Nutting said just after 3am on 7 June last year, PCs Kelly and Goodman stopped a red Ford Sierra car on the A64 near Leeds; it had been parked before being driven off as police approached.

The officers' suspicions were aroused because both men had Irish accents and neither gave a convincing account of their movements. After a check on a driving licence produced by Mr Magee suggested that it might be stolen, PC Kelly radioed for assistance. While PC Kelly was in the police car, Mr Magee emerged from the Sierra, and walked towards PC Goodman, who was standing between the cars, Mr Nutting said.

'Two yards from the special constable, Magee raised both arms . . . and to his horror PC Kelly saw a handgun protruding from Magee's clenched fists. Magee fired twice at point-blank range into Goodman's chest and the special staggered towards the centre of the road, dying,' he said.

Mr Magee turned around, and fired twice through the windscreen at PC Kelly, he said. One shot hit him in the chest, the other struck the steering wheel. The policeman threw himself across the passenger seat, still gripping the handset, shouting, 'ten nine, ten nine, ten nine' - the call for immediate help. Mr Magee walked up to the police car and 'emptied the .45 into the prone body of PC Kelly' through the window, Mr Nutting said. The court heard that another gun, a .38 revolver, was fired twice at PC Kelly; one bullet lodged in the handset, the second in the map compartment. Mr Nutting said the two men drove off in the Sierra, which was seen a few minutes later, coming towards them at high speed, by PCs Whitehouse and Larkin, who had stopped another car. The police officers gave chase, the court heard, until the Sierra stopped and the passenger got out and pointed a sawn-off Kalashnikov at them. As PC Whitehouse reversed the police car, the gunman advanced, firing the gun repeatedly.

Mr Nutting said: 'The police car shook as it absorbed the bullets. Bullets danced on the surface of the road and the windscreen cracked.' Neither officer was hit, he said. The police car reversed into a fence and was stuck; the officers were rescued by the arrival of the driver they had stopped earlier. The Sierra drove off and was later discovered burnt out in a nearby field.

Mr Nutting said Mr Magee and Mr O'Brien, an Irish national, were arrested separately in Pontefract four days later; they aroused suspicion while trying to buy clothes after apparently living rough. The Kalashnikov was recovered from a ditch in the area but the two handguns were never found. Scientific evidence, including a palm print of Mr Magee's on the door of the police car, linked the men with the scene and with the rifle, he told the court.

The case continues today.