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Met PCs ‘feared for lives’ when car was rammed by dangerous driver

Peter Molloy was jailed for ramming a police car in Peckham (MPS)
Peter Molloy was jailed for ramming a police car in Peckham (MPS)

Metropolitan Police officers were left fearing for their lives when their car was deliberately rammed by the driver of a stolen vehicle as he tried to evade capture, a court has heard.

PC Chloe Childs and PC Max Clayden were called out to reports of a car “doing doughnuts” in Peckham, south London, and found 34-year-old Peter Molloy behind the wheel.

Before the officers could approach, Molloy tried to ram their vehicle but missed before making a second attempt, crashing into PC Childs’ driver-side door.

“PC Childs describes fearing for her life during this incident, and fearing that her legs and body would be crushed on impact as she saw the vehicle travelling towards her stationary vehicle at speed”, said prosecutor Michael Attenborough.

He said PC Clayden, who has only been with the Met for three years, was “left very shaken up by what happened and will never forget this incident”.

Molloy, a former steeplejack and construction worker, drove away from the scene of the crash and narrowly avoided hitting a mother pushing her baby in a pram as he careered through the streets of south London, before eventually dumping the stolen Citroen.

At Inner London crown court on Tuesday, Molloy was sentenced to two-years-and-eight-months in prison and handed a driving ban lasting more than six years.

“You used the vehicle effectively as a weapon”, said Recorder James Mulholland KC.

The incident unfold in a car park off Haymerle Road in Peckham at around 10.30am on March 5, the court heard.

“Police were called after a car stolen some three weeks earlier was reported to be driving dangerously, doing doughnuts in the road and colliding with another vehicle”, said Mr Attenborough.

“PC Childs drove past, intending to park her car and return to the suspect vehicle. She saw the vehicle move off in her rear view mirror. He drove towards PC Childs’ vehicle and she wasn’t sure whether he was trying to hit her vehicle but she moved out of the way.

“She described the vehicle turning before beginning to reverse at considerable speeds towards the police vehicle and colliding with it.”

PC Clayden jumped out to confront Molloy, smashing the driver’s window with his baton in a bid to detain him, but the Citroen managed to get away.

PC Childs said she suffered from pain in her neck, back, and leg in the aftermath of the crash, and now endures flashbacks to the incident. She was “extremely shaken and shocked”, the court heard, and now plans to cut short her police career.

Molloy admitted deliberately ploughing into the police vehicle, making “bad choices in a panic” as he tried to disable the car and get away.

He has battled alcohol abuse and spent periods of time living out of his car, the court heard, and has previous convictions for a pub assault and fleeing from police in a stolen car.

Molloy, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assault on an emergency worker, driving with no insurance, and breaching a previous suspended prison sentence.