Jilted lover who killed two policemen gets life

A JILTED lover was yesterday jailed for life after he was found guilty of murdering one police officer and unlawfully killing another by deliberately ramming their car during a high-speed pursuit.

Leayon Davi Dudley, 39, drove straight at the car at more than 80mph, turning it into a fireball. He was found guilty of the murder of PC Bryan Moore, 39, and the unlawful killing of his colleague PC Andrew Munn, 37. They died trying to stop Dudley’s van near Worthington, Leicestershire, after a 50-mile chase from Birmingham.

When he was arrested the building labourer, who had previous convictions for attacking the police, yelled: “I am holding you f***ing personally responsible for this.”

The killer, a building labourer, was nearly twice the legal drink-drive limit when he jumped in his van and sped across the English Midlands after rowing with his ex-girlfriend Gail Powell. The father-of-two, who had denied murder and manslaughter charges, had been in and out of court since he was 13 and had amassed string of convictions for assaults, burglaries and criminal damage.

He was sentenced to life for murder and 15 years for unlawful killing, to run concurrently, following a 12-day trial at Stafford Crown Court. Mr Justice McCombe told Dudley, of Acocks Green, Birmingham, he had committed “two quite appalling offences”.

The judge said: “The verdicts indicate that the jury are quite clear in their mind that you deliberately drove at that police car on the night in question.”

Addressing the officers’ widows, family, friends and colleagues, who had filled the public gallery, the judge commended their bravery in stopping Dudley from harming other road users.

“They unhesitatingly attempted to take action, which almost certainly prevented, in fact, injury or even death to more members of the public,” he said.

“It is the greatest tragedy that such service cost them their lives.”

Outside court, the officers’ families said they had been devastated by the deaths.

PC Munn’s widow, Allison, said in a statement: “We live in a society where police risk their lives every time they put on a uniform and today’s verdict typifies this.

“This man’s decision to take my husband’s and his colleague’s lives away was in no way accidental and his intent to harm them was not because they were in the wrong place and wrong time. It was because he saw them as targets.

“In committing this act he has left me, his two children, parents, family and friends with a lifetime of not having Andy with us, enjoying life as he always did.”

A friend of PC Moore’s widow, Sandra, read out a statement on her behalf, which said: “He has taken a loving father, husband, son and friend.

“Bryan was a very caring, genuine and kind person. He always put others before himself.”

The investigating officer Chief Superintendent Bob Small told reporters he was “relieved” by the verdict.

He added: “Bryan and Andy were well-known, well-respected and well-liked, both within the force and by the local community.”